Dragon Age: The Crown of Thorns

"Raonar: Zevran Arainai. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that you managed to turn a codex of poisons and their antidotes into something that sounds like a porn novel.

Alistair: Wait... What?

--

Alim: This is probably the point where I explain your folly. But you know what? I am a sadistic demon hater. So I'll just say one thing.

Pride Demon: ...

Alim: You lose."

It is a relatively common occurrence for an original work or fanfic author to start on a tale that quickly or eventually proves to be too much to handle. Issues may arise in regards to the setting, the plot, the characters and everything else that a tale needs. If one were to disregard the cases when the whole project collapses upon itself because of either or more than the above, authors can still reach the conclusion that it would take too much time or too many words to pull off properly. In other cases, writers may just be swamped with work or other real life events and they end up having to give up on the project. As such, many stories never see the light of day, while others might get completed but fail to reach their true potential.

Dragon Age: The Crown of Thorns is an example of a massive undertaking that did not meet such an unfortunate end.

This fanfic is what happened when a certain fanfic author took the massive plot of Dragon Age: Origins and mixed it with equally massive servings of Rule of Cool, Rule of Funny and Rule of Drama, making sure to provide a healthy dose of Character Development for everything to meld seamlessly into what is one of, if not the longest of Dragon Age fanfictions on the internet.

And the Hidden Depths of the characters have yet to be explored fully.

Alternatively, this story is what happens when you take a human noble lady, a female city elf, a male dwarven commoner, a Dalish young man and a male elven mage and, along with the resident Heroic Bastard Alistair and the rest of the canon companions, place them under the command of a dwarven prince who, depending on how one looks at him, can qualify as a Wise Prince (Guile Hero) and/or Magnificent Bastard -though it's pretty obvious at this point that he's is the former. His first act was fundamentally changing the events of the Dwarven Noble origin story, although not in a way that anyone would expect.

The story is already longer than 60 chapters and passed the 700,000 words mark a while ago...and it's only about half-done.

Tropes one might encounter include:

 * Absurdly Sharp Blade: Raonar can turn any sword he currently uses into one, and he can even Alim can turn even other peoples' weapons into this.
 * Action Hero: Alim and especially Faren (particularly when he's in Dark Wolf mode).
 * Action Girl: Gwen and Kallian, of course, plus Leliana.
 * A Father to His Men: The DN acts like this in the origin story and, later, when he assumes position as warden commander, although one could say it's more of a brother to his men, since he's not that old.
 * A Glass in the Hand: See Dramatic Shattering below.
 * Angst Coma: The DN falls into one that lasts just about 12 hours when he
 * Ascended Extra: is this hands down.  and  also qualify.
 * The Archer: Theron of course.
 * Badass: The entire main cast, companions included, although the whole world of Dragon Age seems to have been given a level in Badass just for the sake of awesomeness. This includes antagonists, especially demons and the like.
 * Badass Beard:
 * Badass Crew
 * Cultured Badass: Being a prince, Raonar is, understandably, this.
 * Alistair also appears to be turning into this,
 * Badass Longcoat: Alim becomes this.
 * Badass Normal: Gwen and Theron... Oghren and Sten fit here as well.
 * Badass Adorable: The protagonist and Kallian Tabris imply that Faren qualifies as this. Granted, they do it mostly to tease him, but it holds truth anyway.
 * Badass Damsel: Kallian, as Zevran was forced to learn.
 * Took a Level In Badass: The only one of the six Origin wardens that hasn't, so far, received one is
 * Back-to-Back Badasses:
 * Badass Boast: One would expect the protagonist to get these, but it looks like Faren wins this.
 * Battle Aura: Wynne, when she draws upon her Spirit of faith.
 * As a partial subversion,
 * Battle in the Center of the Mind: Kallian and Raonar get some of these.
 * Berserk Button: For some, they are clearer than others.
 * For Raonar: Desecrating either his mother's or dead girlfriend's memory does not end well. Likewise, don't pick on Faren or harm children. It is heavily implied that the Grey Wardens' near-inability to have children is something that he isn't very happy about. As such, he seems to go into Papa Wolf mode regardless of what child is being threatened/harmed, to the point where he
 * For Faren: Threatening his loved ones in any shape or form.
 * Oghren can make his own whenever he wants to go into berserker rage.
 * Beware the Nice Ones: See above. Also
 * For Faren, Ironically,  Since he  Faren was not pleased.
 * Big Badass Wolf: Anor, the wolf who partners with Theron. He is A couple of days later, he
 * Big Brother Instinct: Raonar, the DN, develops this for Faren, the DC, especially after . That young Brosca.
 * Big Brother Mentor: Again, Raonar is this for Faren. Also, recent chapters, as well as a one-shot by the same author reveal that.
 * Big Damn Heroes: At one point, Sten, of all people,
 * Something similar happens several chapters later.
 * For that matter, the protagonist himself pulls one off in chapter 4, when he.
 * Faren also has one in chapter 4, when he . He even has a health potion for the DN.
 * Blatant Lies: Oh boy, does try to feed Faren bull_hit.
 * Blessed with Suck: Raonar is a because he  Unfortunately, while he did get some of the, this seems to have caused at least as may problems, some of them rather serious.
 * Blood Brothers: Not really a pact, but Raonar and Faren are pretty much this. The former also has a similar bond with Sten.
 * Blue Blood: Raonar, Gwen and Alistair.
 * Both Sides Have a Point: The DN appears to feel this way about every fight/quarrel in existence.
 * Break the Haughty: Soon,
 * Brutal Honesty: The DN uses this when Also,
 * Call Back: There are several, although two are the most prominent.
 * The first one is in regards to a major event in the backstory of House Aeducan, a young  was present at that -and he even mentions it himself -, as was  This is part of what causes the clusterfuck in this version of the DN origin and is invoked during the later chapters.
 * It is revealed that
 * Calling the Old Man Out:
 * Catapult Nightmare: The DN goes through this after his first serious with the Archdemon, brought about indirectly by learning that
 * Character Development: None of the characters go by ignored.
 * Chekhov's Gun: The letter that King Endrin got, as stated by the protagonist, even though
 * The dagger that Faren got from Raonar, the same as the one offered by the weapon merchant in the DN origin,
 * The potion given to by the  in the first chapter is the same one.
 * Children Are Innocent: The limitless potential that the protagonist sees in the younger generation is one of the main reasons he hasn't given up on the world or become a full-fledged Knight in Sour Armor, although he does qualify as a Deadpan Snarker from time to time.
 * Amalia, the Kitty demon-bewitched daughter of that man who knows Shale's activation word, manages to Amalia just asks him (and pushes him until he gives a straight answer) if he needs a hug and he straight-out says he does (eventually), getting some evidence that there is something worth fighting for, unlike what being raised in Orzammar would make one believe.
 * Comes Great Responsibility: For some reason, the stronger Raonar and, by extension, everyone else gets, the bigger problems they have to deal with.
 * Continuity Nod:
 * Cosmic Plaything: Raonar feels this way but only gets annoyed when other people suffer because of it.
 * Crapsack Nation: May or may not become a Defied Trope. Orzammar seems to be the third kind, ergo Immutable Crapsack World. However, the primary protagonist vehemently refuses to settle for anything less than type four/mutable,
 * Crapsack Nation: May or may not become a Defied Trope. Orzammar seems to be the third kind, ergo Immutable Crapsack World. However, the primary protagonist vehemently refuses to settle for anything less than type four/mutable,


 * Crashing Dreams: Oh boy, Kallian.
 * Crazy Prepared: Raonar. He takes everyone and everything he can think of into account, and then some. It's why they all, among other things. Alim has shades of this as well, although he doesn't need to bother since he knows the commander has things covered.
 * Cultured Warrior: Raonar, Alistair (or so he says), Gwen (probably) and Sten, even though he doesn't quote the Qun much.
 * Curb Stomp Battle:
 * Also,
 * Cursed with Awesome: Raonar
 * Deadpan Snarker: Several of the main characters.
 * Determinator: The DN was forced to become this by all the crap he's had to put up with. Sten seems to be this as well.
 * As a better explanation for the DN, he keeps
 * Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?:  It comes back to bite him and everyone else in the rear later. Hard.
 * Death Faked for You: The major diverging plot point compared to Canon.
 * Deal with the Devil:
 * Defeat Means Friendship: Averted. Raonar and Faren All in front of Gorim too...
 * Disproportionate Retribution: Most of the characters feel that the DN protagonist lashes out at Isolde a bit too strongly, although, true enough, she did outright accuse him that he doesn't mind killing children. Nevertheless, he makes her cry and even Fortunately, he'd only gone upstairs to give the kid a hug and a So Proud of You, plus
 * When Connor the DN gets quite angry at Alim's  and, instead of congratulating him and whatnot, drags the mage over to give him a What the Hell, Hero? rant in private. Alim counters it by calling him out on how he reacted too harshly, showing off his own Guile Hero traits by perceiving one of Raonar's biggest regrets.
 * Doomed by Canon: Subverted hard. The game automatically killed off, more or less, all potential wardens except for the player character. Here, all of them become Wardens, although two of them get the chance only because of the protagonist's direct action.
 * Played straight by Still,
 * Doorstopper: 650,000 words and still only about half done. No one seems to be complaining.
 * Double Reverse Quadruple Agent: of all people.
 * Dramatic Pause: The protagonist does this on purpose sometimes, because he likes being dramatic once in a while.
 * Dramatic Shattering: In Orzammar, the only reason anyone realizes that is because the prince.
 * Dramatic Wind: Alim makes his own sometimes.
 * Dual-Wielding: Faren uses two daggers, sometimes linking them with a 3 meter-long chain to use them as mid-range weapon. He also gets some hidden wrist blades.
 * Dudley Do-Right Stops to Help: Played perfectly straight by Raonar. You'd think that a politician that spawns one gambit after another and who has the whole world on his shoulders would be a bit less eager to go into potentially deadly situations with just his dog as help. Turns out that even though  Raonar does reason that it's important to assess whether the horde really reached so far west in such a short time or if it's just a group of stragglers. One would think this is just him looking for justification, but that wouldn't fit with his Brutal Honesty policy that he uses on everyone, including himself, meaning that he manages to play this trope AND avert Honor Before Reason altogether (after all, he had
 * Dying Moment of Awesome: Duncan, when he and the DN
 * Dynamic Entry: Faren
 * Easily Forgiven: And he feels really bad about it because he thinks he doesn't deserve it.
 * Eccentric Mentor: Maybe not old enough to qualify, but the DN makes a point of acting like this. He even And he is perfectly honest the entire time.
 * Fire-Forged Friends: Raonar and Faren, although the Battle of Ostagar more or less makes all seven Grey Wardens qualify for this.
 * Flash Step: Yes, this of all things. It Makes Sense in Context...
 * Foreshadowing: At this point, anything mentioned in the fic can be seen as a Chekhov's Gun or Gunman or whatever else. Also, readers should know that pretty much everything Raonar does, however minor, is part of some contingency plan.
 * Fridge Logic: The author uses this method in order to adapt some talents and spells from the game, as well as to try and explain how the Fade works, among many other things like why two handed weapons are so freaking huge. The fact that is a nice treat.
 * Gambit Pileup: Orzammar is this, to a small extent, by nature. It gets more complicated...
 * Genre Savvy: Quite a few people, especially Raonar, Alim and Faren, show shades of this.
 * Fridge Logic: The author uses this method in order to adapt some talents and spells from the game, as well as to try and explain how the Fade works, among many other things like why two handed weapons are so freaking huge. The fact that is a nice treat.
 * Gambit Pileup: Orzammar is this, to a small extent, by nature. It gets more complicated...
 * Genre Savvy: Quite a few people, especially Raonar, Alim and Faren, show shades of this.


 * Made even better by the fact that
 * When preparing to :

"*Cue Curb Stomp Battle*."
 * When commencing the above fight:


 * For the DN it's justified because of
 * Get a Hold of Yourself, Man!: Raonar juxtaposes a backhand to a long and tight Cooldown Hug in order to snap Faren out of his Heroic BSOD.
 * Glowing Eyes of Doom
 * Good Is Not Nice: Sometimes.
 * Good Is Not Dumb: The DN is a morally upright strategist in a Deadly Decadent Court. Stuff happens.
 * Guile Hero: Raonar and Alim
 * From a Certain Point of View: Raonar makes sure he can say this about every single statement he makes.Ever. Anything he doesn't want to lie about is phrased as a question or hypothesys. It's what allows him to actually remain the arguably most honest and upfront of all characters in the story, even though he still manages to mislead and make people believe whatever he wants them to. Of course, it helps that the things he is willing to do like his  are generally outside the realm of what people consider possible.
 * Hannibal Lecture: Raonar is a master of this. It's probably good for the world that he doesn't do it often and mostly with the goal of helping the one on the receiving end. Unfortunately, he sometimes goes too far.
 * Heel Realization: has a very serious one. It takes weeks / months to sink in and pushes him into a depression that lasts nearly as long, to the point where he's unable to sleep unless he collapses from exhaustion, this being the reason why he begins to abuse his own body through frantic workout. And this is while  was trying to offer some emotional support. Eventually, he manages to get better when he  but crap hit the vents again soon after. Ironically enough, the  he sustained during this period ended up improving his mood, though  Quite the mother hen that one.
 * doesn't really need one, since he seems to know all along that the crap he's pulling is wrong, but he does it all anyway. Still, he only really laments it during his He eventually does play it straight when he sees just how wrong he was when the fact  sinks in. Too bad he turned it all into an
 * Heel Face Turn: pulls one after getting a Hannibal Lecture and a You Are Better Than You Think You Are speech. He is currently a triple / quadruple agent, depending on whether or not readers see his own interests as separate from those of
 * Heroic Self-Deprecation: Raonar does seem to have a small case of this, but it's more frustration at being proven right all the time, even in things he hopes he'd be wrong about.
 * Faren plays this very straight though, not understanding Kallian only partially manages to help him get over it, and he does seem to be slowly growing out of it as he sees that people believe in him.
 * And then there's the nightmare...
 * As in the game, Alistair thinks very little of himself and is wracked with guilt, though not as badly as in Canon.
 * Oddly enough, Kallian herself sometimes thinks like this, starting after she learns that
 * Heroic BSOD: The protagonist gets several.
 * Faren goes through one after they escape Lothering, although the one caused by is close to an outright Angst Coma that he goes through while still standing.
 * Heroic RROD: The dwarven noble falls into a coma and his mind and body begin to break down, literally and figuratively, after The only reason he doesn't die is because, of all things.
 * Hilarity Ensues: This happens when you
 * Honesty Is the Best Policy: While he may phrase his words as questions and hypotheses when manipulating people, none of Raonar's actual statements were ever lies. This is why
 * Hot-Blooded: Gwen is afflicted with this, though it
 * Hot Chick with a Sword: Gwen and Kallian.
 * Hurting Hero: In some measure, everyone in the main cast.
 * I Know You Know I Know: Theron only slightly plays this for laughs in a recent chapter. The extent of the I Know You Know I Know has to be seen to be believed though.
 * Hot Chick with a Sword: Gwen and Kallian.
 * Hurting Hero: In some measure, everyone in the main cast.
 * I Know You Know I Know: Theron only slightly plays this for laughs in a recent chapter. The extent of the I Know You Know I Know has to be seen to be believed though.


 * It Got Worse: Even though what the main cast does never stops being awesome, things seem to be getting more and more complicated and, for Raonar at least,
 * Looks like the most recent between the protagonist and the Archdemon concluded with the latter  whatever that implies.
 * Jerkass Facade: Averted. The DN reveals that he, but ended up not needing to do it because the eldest prince managed to piss him off for real enough that he didn't need to act.
 * Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Yes, for real.
 * Keeping Secrets Sucks: Raonar and Alim are revealed to As such, they are probably under a lot more stress than the others, even setting aside the responsibilities of the first and second in command, respectively, that they have. Still, this may be an aversion because, as revealed by the latest chapters, they likely would just come out and tell what they are, or bluntly order the others not to ask questions, if said others did find out they were being kept in the dark. Oddly enough, everyone is so used to not being told everything by the commander that they don't bother with it, actually trusting him to know what he's doing.
 * Of course, to this are added the secrets that the Grey Warden Order has to protect even at the cost of human lives, although no situation has arisen where this was necessary (and it's unlikely Raonar would fail to come up with a creative resolution).
 * Knight in Sour Armor: Raonar might not act the part, but the fact is that he knows (and always knew) that his home nation is a rotten pool full of liars and that the rest of the world isn't that different either, confirmed by the betrayal of Ostagar and everything else. The only reason he lived so far and even shone brighter than all others of his kind (and even manages to inspire people to be more than they are) is because he still sees hope for the future. All he wants is to see worthwhile things go on existing (and he makes sure to notice them, however rarely they show up, because he lives in the present as much as he can). Of course, it helps his disposition that some adults his own age are true of spirit as well.
 * Lampshade Hanging: Just enough.
 * Lightning Bruiser: Faren, especially
 * Loads and Loads of Characters: Fortunately, the author didn't hold back and invested bits of the story's massive word count for even smaller people, like
 * Loophole Abuse
 * Lotus Eater Machine: The dreams they are trapped in during the Circle Tower quest, naturally.
 * Loyal Animal Companion: The two mabari war hounds and the wolf to their respective masters.
 * Lying in the Dirt Together: This is exactly how the dwarven noble and the dwarven commoner bond in the very first chapter.
 * Magnetic Hero: Apparently, the protagonist is a lot less enthused by it than one would expect, to the point where, in chapter 51, he actually Made even more complicated by the fact that the protagonist appears to actually  It's one of the few things he fails at, and it bothers him. A lot.
 * Messiah Creep: The protagonist
 * Mistaken for Gay: Happens to Raonar, both in-story and out of it. Apparently, his feelings for Faren were misunderstood.
 * More recently, new arrival Oghren is wondering the same thing, only about the latter.
 * More Dakka: Dear Scott, Alim combines this with Improbable Aiming Skills during the battle of Ostagar, when he goes apeshit on the darkspawn horde and becomes a weapon of mass destruction It is later revealed that  See Storm of Blades below.
 * Mundane Utility: Alim uses magic to improvise portable freezers and to keep the party camp warm at night during winter. Also, dwarves use enchantment to make things like self-filling basins of self-purifying water.
 * Murder Is the Best Solution: Bhelen really seems to think killing everyone who gets in his way is the best solution, as he does in the game. This is probably the reason why the dwarven noble repeatedly calls him an idiot while having a higher opinion of Trian.
 * My Enemies and Zoidberg


 * My God, What Have I Done?:
 * Endrin is something of a special case because
 * Nakama: The Wardens and their group, although Morrigan is still her cold self and Sten is mostly devoted to the DN and not so much towards everyone else. Shale is... well, Shale, and Oghren
 * Never Got to Say Goodbye: It is more or less obvious that the DN feels this way. Meanwhile, King Endrin inverts this by . And he does just that, despite the fact that My God, What Have I Done? indeed.
 * Oh Crap: Happens a few times.
 * One-Man Army: Alim, especially during
 * The Paragon: Three guesses who.
 * Perpetual Motion Monster: The Darkspawn.
 * Playing Both Sides: Subverted. The result is
 * Poor Communication Kills: Averted..
 * Power Perversion Potential: Raonar alludes to this during a certain discussion with Alim about his blood magic.
 * Rant-Inducing Slight: Morrigan manages to land one on the protagonist.
 * Rant-Inducing Slight: Morrigan manages to land one on the protagonist.


 * Razor Wind: The DN's ranged sword attacks could qualify as this, more or less.
 * Recurring Dreams: Raonar's near death experiences involving his Fortress Of Solitude, essentially his mindscape, collapsing could be this, or visions, or some sort of retreat into one's self...
 * Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Both played straight and averted by Faren and Raonar at the same time, whenever only the two of them are present, with the castless thug/criminal/rogue, oddly enough, being the sensitive one. Faren turns out to be very emotionally vulnerable after his Fade nightmare, so Raonar deliberately begins to exhibit more strength of character and equal doses of care and bluntness, even snarky humor, for the younger dwarf to draw upon. Big Brother Mentor indeed.
 * Serial Escalation: The sheer length of the fanfic is one thing, but there never seems to be any shortage of new plot twists and ways to slam readers with another development involving
 * Shipper on Deck: The DN sometimes subtly (and sometimes not so subtly) nudges the romances between some members of the party forward. Being Faren's Big Brother Mentor allows him to quite easily help him out, while his approach to the relationship between Gwen and Alistair takes the form of a Batman Gambit inserted into a Xanatos Gambit. So far, his efforts have been successful and, though he was called out on his Matchmaker's complex, it wasn't in bad spirit, since
 * Shout-Out: A few, although some could be considered aversions.
 * At one point,

"Faren: "Toss me."
 * While in the Deep Roads, while fighting, Raonar channels focused magical energy into a "palm-sized ball of energy, vaguely blueish, spiraling under his intent, compressed to the limit, this somehow only accelerating the movement."
 * Again, while in the Deep Roads, this exchange occurs:

Shale: "I beg your pardon?"

Faren: "I can't jump that far so I want you to toss me."

Shale: "...As it wishes"

Faren: "Wait... don't tell the Antivan."

Shale: "Not a word.""


 * Showy Invincible Hero: Alim Surana qualifies as this, especially after chapter 48.
 * Shut UP, Hannibal:
 * So Proud of You:
 * Sorting Algorithm of Weapon Effectiveness: Unlike the game, it is subverted at least as often as it is played straight.
 * and has had it ever since.
 * Similarly, it is heavily implied that, is seriously badass, though no details have been given yet. The same goes for his set of armor.
 * The dagger, and which , is not only infused with electricity enchantments, but it can even pierce cleanly through silverite massive armor without getting worn.
 * Gwen started off with . As if those weren't good enough, she got.
 * Alistair gets the first time the party gets to, and this is actually quite a bit after he gets.
 * Spirit Advisor:
 * Stealth Mentor: As outright stated,
 * Storm of Blades:  but it qualifies better as a storm of needles. Made of blood. And that's just one of the things he does.
 * Stroke the Beard: The DN does this often, especially when he's plotting something.
 * Super Mode:  It
 * As in the game, Wynne can use her magic to push anyone into something of the sort, with no risks.
 * Of course, Wynne has that spirit inside of her, so calling upon it automatically counts as a super mode, especially considering the nimbus effect.
 * Supernatural Sensitivity: The Grey Wardens can sense the darkspawn and each other. The range varies from several hundred meters to several miles. Raonar and especially Kallian have wide ranges, though it's as much a curse as it is a blessing.
 * Alistair senses use of magic, being a templar.
 * The dwarven noble protagonist gains the same ability as above after he trains with him.
 * also seems to have developed a psychic awareness in the aftermath of his most recent psychic clash with . He can
 * Alim seems to have been given some sort of that lets him.
 * Oghren and Raonar exhibited the dwarven Stone Sense on one occasion.
 * Suspiciously Specific Denial:
 * Oghren and Raonar exhibited the dwarven Stone Sense on one occasion.
 * Suspiciously Specific Denial:


 * "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Isolde gets one.
 * As does Bhelen,
 * Team Dad: Raonar is very protective of his subordinates, even as he holds them in line strictly, isn't that right and ?
 * Team Mom: Wynne tries to act the part a few times.
 * Tears of Joy:
 * Tears of Remorse: Same as above, during the same respective sequences. It really looks like the protagonist has the uncanny ability of bringing people to tears, no matter who they are.
 * The Stoic: Theron (mostly) and Sten.
 * Take a Third Option: Or, in Raonar's case, make one.
 * Third Option Adaptation: Which Warden origin is the main character(s)? All six of them.
 * Tempting Fate: Raonar does this by accident in . He avoids doing it afterwards.
 * Took a Level In Kindness:
 * Tranquil Fury: The DN goes into one when.
 * Undying Loyalty: Sten also has shades of this.
 * Unexplained Recovery: said that he got better in chapter 17 when
 * Unstoppable Rage: A certain desire demon pushes Raonar into this, even though rage almost never manifests itself in him, so it was quite the feat.
 * Faren averts this by being susceptible to a Cooldown Hug.
 * Unresolved Sexual Tension: Gwen-Alistair, Alim-Morrigan and Faren-Kallian have yet to consummate their respective relationships.
 * Violently Protective Girlfriend:
 * Warrior Prince: Alistair and Raonar.
 * What the Hell, Hero?: The DN gets some of these. And even now it's not a given.
 * The White Prince:
 * The Wise Prince: Raonar, obviously. Alistair also seems to be turning into this, as is
 * Wham! Line: Oh yeah, the protagonist did it.
 * Wham! Line: Oh yeah, the protagonist did it.


 * World of Cardboard Speech: Faren actually subverts this when he . He actually says that he doesn't need any motivation. Badassery stems from the fact that he gives the speech while flash-kicking/punching the demon's face/back/whatever. Repeatedly.

""And that so-called plot of yours, Stone's mercy, it was so incredibly outlandish that a five year-old could have poked holes through all of it. "You're my elder, I'll respect whatever decision you make" you said when you tried to. If that's the driving force behind your actions, isn't your elder too? Makes your words a huge red flag, doesn't it? The only reason I so quickly made you think I agreed to the whole was because I didn't want to risk bursting into laughter if I accidentally made you say something like 'Of course I'll  you've always been there for me'. And just what the hell were you thinking when you sent that stupid scout spy? What was he supposed to do, start a violent confrontation when I finally ran into ? Just how stupid do you think soldiers are to listen to the ravings of a lunatic? And speaking of armies, how in hell were and that idiot supposed to have any credibility when it came to  if my soldiers were right there, especially since Dugan, that idiot, and his ambush were so obviously not part of your initial plan? Do you even realize how many sodding coincidences your so-called plan actually relied on, even not counting how big the possibility was of any of your 'moles' getting killed in that expedition? Or how the chance of you actually timing your arrival properly was so absurdly infinitesimal! You speak of politics and planning, but don't you even know that any plan which relies on more than 2 or three things going right is doomed to fail! I put more effort into making that scheme work than you did!""
 * Xanatos Gambit: The DN does this all the time. Everything he does is probably part of a plan or backup ploy. Chapter 48 is entirely one of these.
 * Xanatos Roulette: Raonar lampshades this trope during his Shut UP, Hannibal speech to Bhelen.


 * Xanatos Speed Chess: It was
 * Zero-Approval Gambit: