Power of Three (novel)

A novel by Diana Wynne Jones.

The Moor is home to three peoples. Normal people live in the Mounds, and farm and hunt. The Dorig live in the lakes and rivers, and are tricksy and magical. (The Dorig regard themselves as normal people, and refer to the people of the Mounds as "Lymen".) Giants live on the far reaches of the Moor, and no sensible person has anything to do with them.

Gest, the chief of the Mound called Garholt, is a Hero. He wed the daughter of the chief of Otmound after a fairy-tale courtship (three impossible tasks, Giants, Dorig, and all) and two of their three children possess magical Gifts. The third, Gair, is a puzzle and a disappointment -- but it's Gair who will be the key to undoing a Curse affecting all the people of the Moor, which began long ago with a meeting between the sons of a Lyman chief and a Dorig king.

Not to be confused with the Arc Words from Charmed.


 * And That Little Girl Was Me: At one point, a story is told about two young men named Jerry and George. It's immediately obvious to all present who they are, but he's telling it that way to make a point.
 * Artifact of Death: The Cursed Collar.
 * Beware the Nice Ones:
 * When Gair gets mad
 * When Ceri gets mad
 * The Call Put Me on Hold: Gair is the only one of his siblings who doesn't have a Gift.
 * Child Mage: Ceri
 * Coming of Age Story: For Gair.
 * Deliberately Cute Child: Ceri.
 * Don't Make Me Take My Belt Off: Used as a punishment among the Lymen. At one point Gest.
 * Emo Teen: Both Gair and Gerald seem to to be made of this.
 * Engagement Challenge: When Gest asked Chief Og of Otmound for his daughter's hand in marriage, Og set him three impossible tasks as a way of turning him down diplomatically. Gest completed all three tasks anyway.
 * The Fair Folk: The Dorig, from the point of view of the Lymen.
 * Fish Out of Water: The Lymen Children in the Giants' house.
 * Functional Magic: both Rule Magic, in the case of the 'words' which the main characters use, and Inherent Gift.
 * Heroic Resolve: Not so much physical as verbal.
 * Hostage Situation: Toward the end, one of the characters volunteers to be taken hostage to provide a pretext for negotiations to be opened between the conflicting races. It doesn't go so well.
 * Human Sacrifice: Well, not humans per se, but the Dorig sacrifice each other.
 * I Just Want to Be Special: Gair practically codifies this trope.
 * I Know Your True Name: A major threat to the Dorig and Lymen is to simply mention that one has the name of an enemy in mind, as having a person's name allows you to curse them. Ceri scoffs at the Giants for giving out their names so freely.
 * King Incognito:
 * Lyman chiefs look just like everyone else, due to the fact that they all wear camo to blend in with the grass.
 * Hafny and Halla turn out to be a Prince and Princess. Surprise!
 * Literal Genie: The Gift of Asked Sight enables its possessor to instantly give an accurate answer to any question about the future -- but she can only answer the question she's asked, even if it's worded badly, overly narrow, or based on a false assumption. Ayna spends a lot of time worrying about what might happen because of this.
 * Little People:
 * Older Than They Look: The Lymen children, when compared with the giant children.
 * Rule of Three: All over the place, as you'd expect from the title. There are three Powers, three races, three tasks, three siblings, ...
 * Shrouded in Myth: Gest's three tasks. Eventually, it's revealed that Gest is cool.
 * Tomato Surprise:
 * Voluntary Shapeshifting: The Dorig have this ability.
 * "Well Done, Son" Guy
 * Gest.
 * Mr. Masterfield.
 * to some extent, Hathil.
 * When It All Began: First two chapters.
 * Words Can Break My Bones