The Faceless Ones (Skulduggery Pleasant - book 3)

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Deliberately Painful Clothing: The Necromancers wear robes that completely fail to keep them warm in their freezing cold temples during winter. Subverted when it's revealed that at least a few of these necromancers are deeply wrapped in thermals beneath their robes. Anti-Magic: There are runes that stop magic from working. They're mainly used on handcuffs and in prison cells. Becomes a recurring case of Summon Bigger Fish in the later books, when Skulduggery's absolute last resort in the fight against first the Death Bringer and then Kitana's gang is to unleash Lord Vile. Betrayal by Inaction: Serpine is deserted by the White Cleaver this way at the end of the first book. Even the Girls Want Her: Gender seems to not have any effect on China's ability to make others fall madly in love with her. However, as it's not exactly romantic love all the time. More like helpless adoration, like a puppy.

In June 2011 Landy posted on his blog that he would be writing a short story about Skulduggery called The End of the World. [29] It was released in late February 2012 to coincide with World Book Day 2012. The Australian release of this novella came with an additional short story titled Just Another Friday Night. Deleted scenes from Skulduggery Pleasant were included. It is set a few months after Death Bringer. It was included in the 2014's short story collection. I know what you're feeling. Guilt, yes? A tremendous sense of awful responsibility for something you had no part of. That was my reactions when I first head the story. I didn't know what to do. Maybe send each reality a card, with a little apology? Then, when the Faceless Ones found us and killed the others and took me, I finally realised that nothing good could come from pointless remorse and I got over it. The constant torture proved to be a good distraction." — Skulduggery Pleasant to Valkyrie Cain on the Ancients sealing the Faceless Ones in the other dimensions, Skulduggery Pleasant: Dark Days The Faceless Ones' universe Sebastian Tao, Bennet Troth and Tantalus break into The Dark Cathedral and obtain a scythe containing Faceless Ones' blood. They use this blood to begin the search for the Faceless One's universe. Cover Identity Anomaly: Scapegrace has a problem that causes him to invent a twin brother. Of course he gets every detail right and thinks of everything... except one of the names. Augur Darkly is a deconstruction of The Chosen One. His parents made him train for most of his life to fulfil the Darkly Prophecy (i.e kill the Unnamed with the Obsidian Blade) at the cost of neglecting his younger brother Omen. This causes Omen to become The Un-Favourite and Augar to live under immense pressure and to become disillusioned with his parents, calling them out for using him to promote themselves at the cost of his and Omen's wellbeing. It also leaves Augur unsure of what to do with his life after the prophecy has been fulfilled, due to that being his main purpose in life.As a race of immortal, lovecraftian esque entities, the Faceless Ones are beings of near limitless magical ability. They wield powers most beings could scarcely begin to comprehend and vastly eclipse almost every other magical entity shown in the series thus far.

Ear Worm: Valkyrie says Mevolent's supporters have some catchy chants and that one about killing all mortals was an Ear Worm that had her humming all day. Killed Off for Real: Averted multiple times with Scapegrace, but played straight with too many people to list.

The Deadpan Snarker boxing champ Ghastly Bespoke is actually a tailor. Think about that for a second. Beethoven Was an Alien Spy: In this universe, HP Lovecraft's Eldritch Abominations were inspired by tales he heard of the Faceless Ones. Lovecraft Lite: The Faceless Ones give the setting a Lovecraftian flavour but they can be just barely defeated. Family-Unfriendly Death: Some of the deaths, like the first book's water related death, seem just slightly on the creepy side considering the books' target audience. Another good example is in Book Three, when Mr. Bliss is grinded to a mush of bone and flesh by a Faceless One.

Master of One Magic: Most adult mages can only do one type of magic apart from a few examples of The Red Mage mentioned below. Valkyrie finds out that Skulduggery and Lord Vile are the same person in Death Bringer, which so far has remained a secret from almost everyone else. China Sorrows is implied to have learned the truth in Last Stand of Dead Men, and Tanith Low discovers the truth in Seasons of War.Bedlam ends with Omen and Auger Darkly being brutally injured by Jenan Ispolin, followed by the revelation that Valkyrie is descended - not from the Ancients, as was previously believed - but the Faceless Ones. The second cycle of the internationally bestselling Skulduggery Pleasant series comes to a thrilling end. The Faceless Ones have returned to our universe. The bad guys have won. With the end of everything just days away – and no longer able to rely on Valkyrie Cain – Skulduggery must make allies of enemies if he's going to stand any chance of saving what is left of the world. And just when things are looking their bleakest, they manage to get even worse, with Omen Darkly suddenly having to step up when his brother, the Chosen One, falls.

The magical community is at first portrayed as extremely small. Once the council had fallen and Ghastly was out of commission, Skulduggery is adamant that he, Valkyrie and Tanith are the only ones left to oppose Serpine. As the books progress, the world expands and a great many close allies are introduced (the Dead Men in particular), this seems quite strange in retrospect. Death Bringer can be in reference to any of three characters who were all at different stages considered to be candidates for the Necromancers' saviour - Lord Vile, Valkyrie Cain and Melancholia St. Clair.Civil War: The war between the Irish Sanctuary and the Supreme Council during Last Stand of the Dead Men. Much is said of the two sides having friends on each side forced to fight each other. Valkyrie gives one to Skulduggery in The Dying of the Light when it seems like he's about to sacrifice himself to stop the Accelerator from overloading. Fortunately, he doesn't - turns out that the willing sacrifice is heavy on the Exact Words. Namely, that the person has to be willingly sacrificed. There's nothing requiring them to be willing to be sacrificed. Dimensional Traveller: There's a magical discipline called Dimensional Shunting that's dwindling in popularity as the mage might materialise inside a solid object if they're going to a world they've never been to before. It's getting big again in the phase 2 books.