The Annals of the Chosen

The Annals of the Chosen is a fantasy trilogy by Lawrence Watt-Evans. It takes place in what's mostly the Standard Fantasy Setting, with the difference that common folk have grown tired of how wizards use and abuse them. The Magocracy agreed to establish a "Wizard Lord" with powers far greater than normal, and gave him near-absolute power to punish rogue wizards. However, eight Chosen Ones were also given power that would allow them to depose evil Wizard Lords -- and it just so happens that the most recent one has been acting somewhat oddly...

Tropes used in The Annals of the Chosen include:

• Amplifier Artifact/Amulet of Concentrated Awesome: Each of the Chosen Ones has one of the two, paired to ones carried by the Wizard Lord. Incidentally, the Wizard Lord's talismans don't work if the corresponding Chosen talismans aren't in use, so he can't simply kill them or he'll lose all his power and the other wizards will be able to defeat him.
• Anticlimax: Very, very deliberate when Sword kills the Dark Lord of the Galbek Hills--it's not an honorable fight, but an assassination.
  • And again when Farash kills the Dark Lord of Winterhome.
• Anti-Magic: It infuses a particular kind of bird to such a degree that it will also apply to clothing ornamented with that bird's feathers. The increased trade in those feathers is slowly weakening magic across the land. After seeing the horrors of some ler and the incompetence of wizards, Sword thinks that's a good thing and many others seem to agree.
• Arcadia: Sword grew up there, and several other regions qualify to varying degrees. Averted in Bone Garden, which would be a Town with a Dark Secret if it weren't for the fact that everyone except Sword knows what goes on there.
• Blessed with Suck: Several of the Chosen Ones, particularly the Beauty and the Speaker. Beauty can't reveal her face or even leave her home regularly for fear of rape or starting riots when men try to claim her. Speaker is constantly assaulted with the voices of every living thing.
• Chekhov's Gun: The ninth talisman, which may or may not be connected to a ninth Chosen One.
• The Chosen One: Deconstructed to within an inch of its life, with discussion of what "chosen" really means, whether anyone need be chosen at all, and even what sort of society would declare an evil Wizard Lord Somebody Else's Problem.
  • Reconstructed at the end of the series when Sword declares they chose themselves to stand against the Wizard Lord. Others had done so in the past, raising armies to defeat rogue wizards until the Immortal Council created the Chosen and relieved them of the need.
• Compelling Voice: The Leader. Abused in both the obvious manner and a few less pleasant ways.
  • In the epilogue, the last Leader has married the new King. Nobody's entirely certain how much she uses this on her husband, but it's a useful tool for a Queen.
• Disproportionate Retribution: The Wizard Lord of the Galbek Hills grew up in a town called Stoneslope, where everyone mocked him and thought he would never amount to anything. There no longer is a town of Stoneslope.
• Distracted by the Sexy: This, combined with the Honey Trap, is pretty much the Beauty's entire reason for existing.
• Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep" / Only Known by Their Nickname: All of the Chosen Ones except Azir and Farash eventually fall victim to one of the two. Sword goes so far as to declare That Man Is Dead.
  • Holds true for most characters, actually. The Barokanese hide their true names as a matter of protection while the Uplanders do not commune with ler and so never learn them. Thus most characters go by a nickname based on their profession or actions while young.
• Evil Chancellor: Inverted. It's initially thought that Farash is manipulating Artil towards evil, but in fact Artil is evil on his own, and Farash is trying to keep him under control.
• Fisher King: The Wizard Lord also controls the weather, so if they go bad, expect a lot more lightning than normal.
• Functional Magic: A Theurgy variant, with ler (Animate Inanimate Objects, Genius Loci, and such) replacing gods. Wizards are powerful enough to order ler around, while priests are forced to bargain with them. Incidentally, those bargains aren't always pleasant.
• Healing Hands: The Beauty, oddly enough. And no, it's not Intimate Healing.
• Humble Goal: Sword spends a fair bit of time in the novel musing on how much he'd love to go home so he can just grow barley and beans with his family.
• Invisibility: Well, not true invisibility, but the Archer can make people ignore his presence.
• Jumping Off the Slippery Slope: Artil, and arguably Farash as well.
• Leeroy Jenkins: Bow, who's devoted himself entirely to being the first Archer to kill a Wizard Lord, and as such is half-willing to fire an arrow every time he sees one, even if he hasn't been declared a Dark Lord yet.
• Master of Disguise: The Thief.
• Medieval Stasis: First justified, then averted.
• The Mole: Farash. Later undergoes a Heel Face Turn without Becoming the Mask, and becomes a Reverse Mole.
• Photographic Memory: The Scholar can remember anything true he's been told. If he forgets something and has to be reminded of it, it's clearly false, so he's indirectly a Living Lie Detector as well.
• Poke the Poodle: The Thief is required to commit three thefts a day--but there's no lower limit to the value of the stolen items.
• Power Perversion Potential: The Swordsman in an obvious manner, the Leader through a massive aversion of Mind Over Manners.
• Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: Deconstructed.
• Refusal of the Call: Discussed and attempted--successfully for once. Not that it was a good idea . . .
• Screw Destiny: Discussed, but only put into practice at the end.
• So Beautiful It's a Curse: Deconstructed and turned Up to Eleven by the Beauty. Even a burqa doesn't help her, since her voice is beautiful too.
• Spider Sense: One of the Seer's abilities.
• This Is Reality: Slaying the Dark Lord is a lot less glamorous and noble in "real life" than in the old stories.
• Two-Part Trilogy: And a good thing it was that--initial considerations called for five volumes.
• Villain with Good Publicity/Hero with Bad Publicity: Artil is beloved of the common people because he's made their lives better in many ways. At the same time, he has spread lies and exaggerations about the Chosen and their actions, first by rumor and then open declaration.