Ea Cycle is a fantasy tetralogy by David Zindell narrated in first person by Valashu Elahad, a prince of Mesh. In the beginning, Val goes on a continent-spanning quest for the Holy Grail Lightstone, a holy artifact that the fate of the universe hangs on. But Val and his stereotypically diverse group of friends also need to keep the Lightstone safe from Morjin, the Big Bad leader of The Empire, until the Lightstone can be claimed by its rightful wielder, the Maitreya.
Expect a lot of talk about chakras and meditation and ascending to a higher state of existence. Zindell is obviously heavily into New Age and it shows.
Tropes used in Ea Cycle include:
- Action Girl: Atara.
- And Your Little Dog, Too: Morjin, being a bad loser, takes it out on Valashu's family.
- Arch Enemy: Valashu and Morjin to each other
- Author Tract
- Awesome Moment of Crowning: With Valashu, who else?
- Back from the Dead
- Big Bad: Morjin.
- Black Magic
- Blind Seer Atara later on.
- Blind Weaponmaster Atara becomes this after she gets blinded by Morjin. She is an archer, so her Blind Seer powers come in handy.
- The Chosen One
- Color-Coded for Your Convenience: The gelstei crystals come in all the colors of the rainbow and then some.
- Cool Sword: The silver gelstei crystal.
- Cosmic Keystone: The Lightstone. It looks like a golden chalice. Only one exists in the entire universe.
- Crystal Spires and Togas: In the utopian past.
- Dark Is Not Evil: The black gelstei crystals don't have to be used for evil.
- The Dark Side
- Disney Death
- Either/Or Prophecy
- The Empath: Valashu.
- The Empire Morjin's.
- Energy Absorption: The special power of the black gelstei crystals.
- Evil Counterpart: Morjin to Valashu.
- Evil Overlord: Morjin.
- Evolutionary Levels: Human -> Valari (better human) -> Elijin (angel) -> Galadin (arch-angel) -> Ieldra
- Expy Kane ~ Kane from Karl Edward Wagner, Astors ~ mallorns...
- Fallen Angel: Morjin. Also Kane.
- Fantasy World Map: Features a strangely rectangular continent that fits nicely on a double-page spread.
- The Gods Must Be Lazy: The universe has numerous mighty beings of goodness and light - whole planetfuls of them - who should be able to save the day without much effort, but somehow don't, even when the fate of the entire universe is at stake.
- Green Rocks: Gelstei crystals.
- Healing Magic: The special power of the green gelstei.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Used straight and subverted.
- Hidden Elf Village
- Hot Amazon: Atara.
- Idiot Ball
- The Kingdom: Mesh.
- Lost Colony: The planet in question was colonized by humans thousands of years ago.
- Lost Technology
- Messianic Archetype
- Mineral MacGuffin
- Not Quite Dead
- Not So Different
- Only One: Subverted. The prophesied Maitreya turns to be not so irreplaceable after all, as in principle anyone can reach the required state of enlightenment.
- Religion of Evil: A borderline case that claims to be good but is very bad at hiding its evil.
- People Puppets: Ghuls.
- Planet of the Apes Ending: It's not a spoiler because it doesn't matter.
- Plot Coupon
- Power Crystal
- The Power of Love
- Prophecy Twist
- Psychic Powers
- Really Seven Hundred Years Old
- Screw Destiny
- Sealed Evil in a Can: Angra Mainyu.
- Sword of Plot Advancement: The silver gelstei crystal has the form of a sword.
- Take Over the World: Morjin's goal.
- Waif Prophet
- Walking the Earth: Valashu and his friends end up having been just about everywhere on the map.
- We Can Rule Together: Morjin tries this.
- White Magic
- You Killed My Father
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