Tortall Universe: Difference between revisions

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** ''The Woman Who Rides Like A Man''

** ''Lioness Rampant''

** ''Wild Magic''

** ''Wolf Speaker''

=== Tropes present in this series include: ===

* [[90% of Your Brain]]: In Wolf-Speaker, Daine refers to the (false) fact that humans use little of their brains when comparing them to Brokefang who, changed by her magic, had ideas in "each nook and cranny of his skull." She is horrified by her discovery. In this case it's because at the time the book was written [[Science Marches On|that was the accepted theory about brain function]].

* [[Action Girl]]: Several of them.

* [[Action Mom]]: Alanna, in later books.

* [[Batman Gambit]]: {{spoiler|Roger}}'s plan in ''Lioness Rampant'' is this. {{spoiler|Alanna only manages to stop it when she realizes he is expecting her every move, then does what he doesn't expect of her}}.

* [[Berserk Button]]: {{spoiler|See Numair. See Numair (apparently) get killed. See Daine crush the killer's palace ''WITH ZOMBIE DINOSAURS''}}.

* [[The Big Guy]]: Oh my god Raoul. {{spoiler|He later marries one of the shortest characters in the books.}}

** And Sarge of the Queen's Riders, a man so huge Daine wonders if he has bear blood in him.

** Alana's friendship with the [[Thieves' Guild|Rogue and his Court]] means that one of the Realm's knights, {{spoiler|and later other knights as well as the Crown Prince himself}} are aware of crimes being committed but do nothing to interfere.

** Where Daine is concerned, this overlaps with Values Dissonance, as Daine does not consider what is best for humans to be more important than what is best for animals.

* [[Bully Hunter]]: Kel.

* [[Came Back Wrong]]: {{spoiler|Implied to be the case for Duke Roger. At first it seems not so, thanks to his very clever and self-effacing attitude after coming back to life, but during the final battle it's pretty clear he's gone completely insane (and lost much of the nasty manipulations and misleading obfuscation that made him such an admirable villain the first time around, although [[Your Mileage May Vary]] concerning that.}}

** In the case of Beka, she doesn't mind serving {{spoiler|the Black God of Death, because he's the nicest of all the gods and cares for the souls of the dead, whereas the other gods barely value the souls of the living}}.

* [[Counterfeit Cash]]: ''Bloodhound'' revolves around this.

* [[Cyanide Pill]]: Suicide spells.

* [[Dark Is Not Evil]] / [[Don't Fear the Reaper]]: One of the three main gods in Tortall is the Black God, who is in charge of death and judgment. He is said to be the kindest and most merciful of the three, and one of the main characters, [[Lawful Good]] Beka Cooper, actually works for him on occasion, and in ''Mastiff'' {{spoiler|the god himself calls her his most faithful priestess}}.

** Heroes really ''do'' want redheads if [[Love Triangle|Jonathan and George Cooper count]].

* [[Hide Your Lesbians]]: [[Word of Gay|Pierce has said]] that Lalasa from ''Protector of the Small'' is gay, but it wasn't important enough to put in the books outside of [[Subtext]] between her and Tian without invoking [[Have I Mentioned I Am Gay?]]. This is averted in the ''Circle'' books, however, and in the second Beka Cooper book, ''Bloodhound'', there is a queer couple, one of whom is a transgender singer. [[Word of God]] has also stated that Duke Roger and Thom were originally intended to be in a homosexual relationship, before she changed the book to be marketed to young girls instead of adults and thought the [[Moral Guardians]] would take issue with it since it was the late 1980s (though there is still plenty of subtext if you read closely. [[Your Mileage May Vary|Or maybe you don't need to read so closely,]] [[Yaoi Fangirl|in some cases]]).

* [[Honor Before Reason]]: The lady knights. {{spoiler|Kel runs into enemy territory ''in the middle of a war'' to rescue the refugees who have been abducted from her camp}}. Admittedly, she's been explicitly told, by what amounts to a god, that it's her fate to face off with the perpetrator, which is a pretty good sign that she'll win. If she ''doesn't'' go save them, the number of nigh-unstoppable killing machines assaulting the border will ''quintuple'', because they're powered by the souls of murdered children- given that they're ''already'' losing the war...

** {{spoiler|And just to top it off, when Kel finally gets where she needs to be, she gets told that the odds of success are fifty-fifty. And since the speaker in question is a seer who can function as a medium when the gods want to talk to Kel...}}

* [[Icon of Rebellion]]: In the ''Tricksters'' series, the symbol for the cultural uprising of an ethnic group enslaved and kept on the bottom rung of society was a crude broken manacle: three small circles as a chain attached to a larger broken circle. This tiny sign of the underground rebellion could be seen anywhere—vegetable stands, scratched into the corners of glass windows.

* [[Idiot Ball]]: Aly loves to occasionally juggle this one around, normally when she's trying to talk her way out of trouble - With Chenaol and her knife in the first book when she fails to actually say anything of use and Kyprioth in the second, when the first thing she says is that his choice was a stupid one. In fact, both times it takes a God to step in and keep her alive. Both cases of which could have been quickly averted with the right knowledge - which, all the more maddeningly, she had!

* [[Infant Immortality]]: Averted frequently, though the perpetrators are always a [[Complete Monster|bit]] [[Big Bad|unpleasant]] .

* [[Interspecies Romance]]: {{spoiler|Daine's parents, human and god, Aly and Nawat, human and ''crow''-turned-human.}}

* [[Modest Royalty]]: The Contes, to the point that Daine is shocked when she first meets Jonathan and Thayet since they don't look like her mental image of royalty.

* [[Must Let Them Get Away]]: The second type in ''Bloodhound'' and ''Squire''. In the former, a noble is convicted of a crime, but is given a lesser sentence due to his family connections. In the latter, Joren is given a fine as a sentence for having Kel's maid abducted due to his status as a noble and hers as a servant.

* [[Nature Hero]]: Daine, who was raised in (relative) isolation and who is [[Friend to All Living Things]].

** Beka also has a few moments in ''Bloodhound'' where she intentionally leaves food for the young girl who is spying on her for the Court of the Rogue, since she knows that the girl probably is not well fed and Beka used to be in a similar situation herself. {{spoiler|The girl later helps her escape and find what she needs to take the Rogue in}}.

** Everyone good is Nice To The Waiter, everyone bad is not. [[Broken Aesop|We keep being told]] by the huge cast of nobles who care about commoners that it's atypical in Tortall for nobles to care about commoners. The only borderline exception is Kel's friend Merric, who, while certainly not cruel or miserly, tells her and Neal at one point that they're too concerned and generous.

* [[No Ontological Inertia]]: Mage Marks in Terrier.

* [[No Periods, Period]]: Completely averted by frank discussions of feminine issues and magical birth control, and in the ''Lioness'' books Alanna ended up outing herself to George Cooper after she panicked during her first period and went to see his mother, a healer.

* [[Obfuscating Stupidity]]: Thom freaks his teachers the hell out when he stops doing this.

** Also Numair in ''Wolf-Speaker'' refers to depending on Tristan remembering him as having been a "book-bound idiot" back in Carthak.

* [[One Last Fling]]: Alanna and Liam. They eventually break up after they realize that they're too different.

* [[One Paragraph Chapter]]: The Cooper books have two. In one, our protagonist/journal-keeper has been awake far too long and can't stay up long enough to write down everything in her journal. In the other, she's just drunk.

* [[Paper Fan of Doom]]: The Yamani ''shukusen'', which sport razor-sharp metal edges. They like to play catch with them. And this is why you should never try messing with a Yamani noblewoman. Particularly because they're also trained in self defense and Naginata skills.

* [[Pet the Dog]]: Is usually indicative that a character may not be as cold-hearted as they initially appear. The Stormwing Rikash has one of these moments in the ''Wild Magic'' series, as does Kel's sexist training master Lord Wyldon in a literal [[Pet the Dog]] moment with Kel's terrier Jump.

** After Daine shapeshifts back into a human after saving Numair from a [[Eldritch Abomination|Chaos-dweller]] in ''The Realms Of The Gods,'' she walks up to him - only to remember that she's naked except for her badger claw necklace. [[Hilarity Ensues|Awkwardness Ensues.]]

{{quote| '''Daine:''' "Oh, for - !"}}

* [[Prince Charming]]: Justified in Prince Jonathan of the realm of Tortall who is a lover and a fighter. And oh boy is he a lover - right up until he meets Thayet, anyway, and she steals his heart and his ability to speak in all of ten seconds.

* [[Proud Warrior Race Guy|Proud Warrior Race Girl]]: Buri.

* [[Rage Against the Heavens]]: The main villain of ''Song of the Lioness'''s motivation, in a particularly pathetic example-he decides to tear down the gods ([[A God Am I|and make himself one in their place]]) simply because they didn't bother to notice him, or grant any of his requests for power. Essentially, "if they won't help me, I won't believe in them". On the other hand, considering [[Jerkass Gods|what is learned about the gods in later series]], [[Straw Man Has a Point|he may have had a point]]. Not that that excuses either his methods or his ultimate goal.

* [[Razor Wings]]: Stormwings are covered in steel/metal feathers which are extremely sharp.

** Daine experiences this trope literally, back in Snowsdale with what later became to Long Lake wolf pack.

* [[Reality-Changing Miniature]]: Roger's wax figure of Lianne, washing away beneath a fountain [[Nightmare Fuel|to wash away her life]]. Meanwhile he has figures of the king, Jonathan, the Provost, Alanna, and Sir Myles wrapped up in a black sack to "obscure their vision" so they cannot be suspicious of him. The other instance is the shield over Dulath valley in ''Wolf Speaker''.

** Also in ''Lioness Rampant'', where her comrade/lover Liam, despite thinking she looks pretty, reacts snappishly and tells her basically that she can't be a warrior ''and'' a lady and she'd better straighten out her priorities. Later he apologizes.

** Beka faces a similar problem adjusting to a dress when she is forced to wear one in ''Bloodhound''. She hates the way men treat her all of a sudden, but manages to pull it off by constantly reminding herself that she's undercover.

** Gainel, god of Dreams, is one to [[Neil Gaiman]].

* [[Shown Their Work]]: One of the major virtues separating the books (particularly from 'The Immortals' onwards) from the swathes of other feudal-set [[Theme Park Version|sword-and-sorcery series]] is Pierce's attention to detail. Daine may be able to communicate with, transform into, and heal animals through magic, but Pierce's descriptions of the animals, their behaviour and biology is all thoroughly well-researched. The cultures of the fantasy lands outside Tortall also demonstrate the kind of authentic detail only possible through conscientious research into their real-world counterparts.

** In the Cooper Isles at least, the collars will choke slaves who stray too far from their masters. Aly in ''Trickster's Choice'' convinces her owners to dispel that particular magic {{spoiler|because she is the chosen of a god, but not the god they think}}.

* [[The Smurfette Principle]]: Attacked with great fury by the lead of just about every book.

** The Chamber of the Ordeal {{spoiler|has been known to work against those who challenge the natural order in the Tortall universe, such as with Keladry in ''Protector of the Small.''}}

* [[Supernatural Sensitivity]]: characters with the Sight can observe use of the Gift. Alanna also has a stone which, when held, allows her to see magic in use.

** They are only this in comparison to Numair and other black robes and [[The Ace|Alanna]], otherwise it is clearly stated that they both posses a strong gift. Farmer Cape{{spoiler|-Cooper}} is a much more straightforward example

* [["Well Done, Son" Guy]]: Kel's stern training master Lord Wyldon serves as one of these for Kel -- a conservative opposed to the concept of female knights, but fair enough to recognize her hard work and skill. He even admits to Kel that it took a little arm-twisting from his own conscience for him to allow her to stay on as a page after her first year, and up until that point she was all but convinced that he intended to see her fail regardless of her actual talent.

** It was never specified what happened to Varice Kingsford at the end of ''Emperor Mage.'' We can't even be sure if she knows her ex-lover is alive, seeing that we never saw them speak to each other after Daine told her to flee and hide.

* [[Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?]]: Kel starts out terrified of heights. She never really learns to like them, but thankfully she has her ever-helpful training master, who forces her to learn to deal with them by ordering her to climb tall trees and landmarks to survey the area.