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{{tropework}}
[[File:weis_star_2344.jpg|frame|Cover to Volume 3]]
 
{{quote| ''Two must walk together the paths of darkness to reach the light.''}}▼
 
▲{{quote| ''Two must walk together the paths of darkness to reach the light.''}}
 
An epic [[Space Opera]] by [[Margaret Weis]], not so known as her other works, co-written together with Tracy Hickman. The first book was published in 1990, the fourth one in 1993. The series consists of four subsequent volumes:
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# ''Ghost Legion''
 
Because the series' covers feature [[Laser Blade|Laser Blades]] prominently, young readers would be forgiven for confusing this with ''[[Star Wars]]''. They wouldn't be far wrong. The series starts about 20 years after a college professor and unlikely revolutionary, Peter Robes, led an uprising against the monarchy; the "[[Royal Blood|Blood Royal]]," a ruling caste which had been genetically engineered for wisdom, intense charisma and occasional superpowers, were wiped out almost to a man. The lone survivors are a small band of loyalists; the king's nephew, newborn [[The Messiah|Dion Starfire]], whom they managed to escape with; and Warlord Derek Sagan, who helped organize the coup and fought his [[Star -Crossed Lovers|Star-Crossed Lover]] Maigrey Morianna to do it. At the beginning of the book, the last of those loyalists, Maigrey's bookish brother [[The Obi -Wan|Platus Morianna]], is killed, leaving the now-grown-up Dion to flee with the help of [[The Lancer|Mendaharin "Tusk" Tusca]], halfblood [[Heroic Bastard]] son of another of said loyalists. Hunted by Warlord Sagan and now-President Robes, aided by the [[Reasonable Authority Figure|rumpled]], [[A Father to His Men|fatherly]] General Dixter and enigmatic [[Not Quite Dead]] Maigrey, Dion must find a way to come into his birthright and reclaim the throne.
 
And, of course, there's more to the story than what meets the eye...
 
The series had a [[Spin -Off]], ''[[Mag Force 7]]'', chronicling the adventures of a band of mercenary misfits modeled consciously after [[The Magnificent Seven]].
 
{{tropelist}}
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=== This series provides examples of: ===
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* [[Ace Pilot]]: Tusk. To a lesser extent, Link.
* [[Afterlife Antechamber]]: {{spoiler|Maigrey}} continues to hang around in ''Ghost Legion'' after having died in ''King's Sacrifice''.
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* [[Break the Badass]]: Derek Sagan, one of the most powerful Warlords in the galaxy and probably as [[Badass]] as a character can get, is scared up to the [[Heroic BSOD]] when [[Big Bad|Abdiel]] threatens him with the Serpent's Tooth, an exotic weapon causing [[Fate Worse Than Death]] to whoever as much as gets scratched by it.
* [[Byronic Hero]]: Sagan.
* [[Casting Gag]]: In ''Ghost Legion'', the artist Stephen Youll is said to have made the portraits of Sagan and Maigrey that are now exhibited in the memorial chapel at the Academy. [http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Youll:Stephen Youll|Stephen Youll]] is a famous artist who has provided book covers for a number of prominent fantasy and science-fiction novels, amongst them the first edition of ''The Star of the Guardians''. That's his work in the page picture. ([[Covers Always Lie|We're not sure who that is talking to Maigrey.]])
** Not just him. All of Tusk's co-conspirators in the fourth book are named after real friends of Weis's, including her eventual second husband and co-writer.
* [[Childhood Friend Romance]]: Maigrey and Sagan.
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* [[Cultured Badass]]: Sagan and Maigrey both love classical music and are so well-read they can quote Plato and Yeats by heart. Dixter is fond of reading, too.
* [[Cynical Mentor]]: Sagan to Dion.
* [[DaddysDaddy's Girl]]: Maigrey, whose warrior nature made her [[Proud Warrior Race Guy]] of a father very happy.
* [[The Dandy]]: Raoul.
* [[Dark and Troubled Past]]: Sagan and Maigrey. And ''how''.
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* [[Fiery Redhead]]: Subverted with Dion who is quite calm and level-headed. Unless you [[Berserk Button|laugh at his royal status]], of course...
* [[Foreshadowing]]: Twice, first with Sagan's father and his prophecy about the two that must walk the paths of darkness to reach the light, second with Sagan himself when he continues to see the dream in which he {{spoiler|kills Maigrey.}}
* [[Four -Star Badass]]: General John Dixter.
* [[Gentle Giant]]: Bear Olefsky, even if his welcoming embraces [[Bear Hug|don't feel so gentle]] to ordinary people.
* [[Happily Married]]: Tusk and Nola.
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* [[Heterosexual Life Partners]]: Raoul and the Little One.
* [[Hollywood Cyborg]]: Xris, the leader of Mag Force 7.
* [[I Am Who?]]: Dion Starfire, especially in Book 1.
* [[I Want My Beloved to Be Happy]]: John Dixter.
* [[Jerk Withwith a Heart of Gold]]: Xris the cyborg, a cynical mercenary who still loves his wife even though he thinks she dumped him when he became a cyborg.
* [[Kill the Ones You Love]]: Sagan {{spoiler|had to kill Maigrey in order to rid her of the [[Fate Worse Than Death]].}}
* [[Lady of War]]: Lady Maigrey is a perfect example.
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* [[Last of His Kind]]: Maigrey believes she, Dion and Sagan are the last Blood Royal in the universe. Turns out {{spoiler|it is not quite so}}.
* [[Loads and Loads of Characters]]: this being a space opera, after all.
* [[Long -Haired Pretty Boy]]: Raoul.
* [[Love At First Sight]]: Dion and Kamil.
* [[Love Hurts]]
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* [[The Phoenix]]: Sagan's personal emblem and the name of his battle ship. Counts as [[Rule of Symbolism|symbolic, too.]]
* [[Please Don't Leave Me]]: In the end of Book 4, {{spoiler|dying}} Derek Sagan begs Maigrey {{spoiler|who came to him after her death}} not to leave him. [[Together in Death|She doesn't.]]
* [[Precision F -Strike]]: Tusk.
* [[Proud Warrior Race Guy]]: Bear Olefsky
* [[Psychic Powers]]: genetically engineered for the Blood Royal.
* [[Rated Mfor"M" for Manly]]: Derek Sagan fits this trope to a T.
* [[Red Oni, Blue Oni]]: Sagan and Maigrey even wear red and blue as their favorite colors respectively.
* [[Redheaded Hero]]: Dion Starfire, red-haired and blue-eyed.
* [[Rightful King Returns]]: Pretty much the plot of the first three books.
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* [[Sexy Priest]]: Sagan is a warrior priest in the Order of Adamant.
** Brother Fideles is described as being very good-looking.
* [[Shout -Out]]: This series can probably boast the vastest amount of literary and music quotes like, ''ever''. Each chapter in every of the four books has an epigraph that is a quote of some sort and relates to the events of the chapter. Characters themselves tend to quote famous literary works and even classical opera.
** The murder of {{spoiler|the royal family by the revolutionary forces}} resembles very much the execution of {{spoiler|the Romanov royal family by Bolsheviks.}}
* [[Shout -Out Theme Naming]]:
** The planet Vangelis is named after a modern Greek composer whose music the author obviously loves.
** Dion, one of the three protagonists, is named (in-verse) after an ancient Greek philosopher and politician, disciple of Plato. And Platus, Dion's tutor, is evidently the homage to Plato himself.
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** Baroness [[Di Luna]]'s name is taken from another Verdi's opera, "Il Trovatore".
** When Maigrey doesn't feel like revealing her real name, she uses the alias "Major Penthesilea". In Greek mythology, Penthesilea was the queen of Amazons and fought for Trojans in the Trojan War. She was killed by Achilles and was said to be the only woman he ever loved (he realized it was her he killed only after removing her helmet). A [[Prophetic Names|Prophetic Name]], too, because, given the amount of [[Rule of Symbolism]] and [[You Can't Fight Fate|Power of Fate]] in this book, you may guess [[Kill the Ones You Love|what]] [[Died in Your Arms Tonight|happens]].
* [[Star -Crossed Lovers]]: Maigrey and Sagan. First they were [[Praetorian Guard|Guardians of the King]], then he took sides with the revolutionary Republic, and she didn't.
* [[Starfish Aliens]]: the Corasians. They are red glowing blobs which feed on raw energy and use [[Mini -Mecha]] to get around. Shooting them with lasguns just makes them stronger unless you [[Reverse the Polarity]].
* [[Tall, Dark and Snarky]]: Sagan
{{quote| '''Sagan:''' “I realize that thinking does require an extraordinary amount of effort for you, Aks. Perhaps you could pay attention to me now and think later.”}}
* [[Tomboy and Girly Girl]]: Kamil Olefsky and Queen Astarte.
* [[Tomboy Princess]]: Maigrey was this as a child.
** Kamil is as well, though Bear Olefsky's domain only includes the planet he lives on.
* [[Trial Byby Combat]]: Maigrey and Sagan in the first book.
* [[Troubled Backstory Flashback]]: for Maigrey, though with her and Sagan being mind-linked it counts for both of them.
* [[The Unfavourite]]: Platus' and Maigrey's father despised his firstborn son for becoming a peace-loving bookworm instead of a [[Badass]].
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* [[Xtreme Kool Letterz]]: Xris the Cyborg, leader of Mag Force 7.
* [[Wartime Wedding]]: Tusk and Nola. [[Played for Laughs]] and a [[Breather Episode]].
* [["Well Done, Son" Guy]]: Dion to Sagan. Sagan, being a [[Cynical Mentor]], [[Jerkass]] and [[Deadpan Snarker]] with no respect to Dion's royal status whatsoever, treats the king-to-be like shit all the time (even when providing real help), and the thing Dion wants most is to hear him say the trope-naming line. In a [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|CMOA]] for Dion in ''Ghost Legion'', Sagan eventually [[So Proud of You|does just that.]]
* [[You Are Worth Hell]]: In the epilogue of ''Ghost Legion'', Maigrey and Sagan are offered a choice: {{spoiler|to repent and be redeemed in Heaven, or to be punished in Hell. Sagan would not repent, and Maigrey, too, renounces salvation to be with him.}} Subverted in that they {{spoiler|still have a small hope of reaching Heaven after they walk through all the paths of Hell.}}
* [[Your Cheating Heart]]: Dion, trapped in his [[Arranged Marriage]].
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:Science Fiction Literature]]
[[Category:The Star Ofof Thethe Guardians]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Star of the Guardians, The}}
[[Category:Trope]]
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