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A lengthy independent comic book series by [[Jeff Smith]] that took 13 years to complete, mixing the sensibilities of a joke of the day comic strip like ''[[Pogo (comic strip)|Pogo]]'' with the sweeping story of an epic fantasy ala ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]''. Jeff self-published '''''Bone''''' in its original run, collecting the issues in groups of six or so in nine total volumes, until Image Comics picked it up. A second printing came under Scholastic, Inc., for which Jeff's friend Steve Hamaker colored each and every page. The series eventually won several Eisner Awards and Harvey Awards, and propelled Jeff Smith into immense independent comic book acclaim.
It tells the story of [[Comic Trio|three cousins]], who happen to look like humanoid, bone-shaped [[Cartoon Creature]]s. They are exiled from their town called Boneville and become lost in a [[Magical Land]] called the Valley, where they meet an energetic old lady (Gram'ma Ben) and her beautiful grand-daughter (Thorn). Together, they're caught up in intrigue, magic, and adventure.
There are also two prequels, ''Rose'' which tells the story of a young Grandma Ben, and ''Stupid Stupid Rat-Tails'', a [[Tall Tale]] of how Big Johnson Bone, the founder of Boneville, once visited the valley, fought off the rat creatures and caused them to begin their tradition of cutting off their tails. The Scholastic run packaged ''Stupid Stupid Rat-Tails'' with new Big Johnson Bone stories as ''Tall Tales''. Tom Sniegoski, who wrote the original ''Rat-Tails'' and the new ''Tall Tales'' stories, is also writing a new novel trilogy called ''Quest For The Spark'' that features a [[Ragtag Bunch of Misfits]] coming together to fight a new threat.
[https://web.archive.org/web/20130224094143/http://www.printmag.com/Article/
Jeff was initially fighting for traditional 2D animation, since he used to run his own animation studio called Character Builders that contributed to films like ''[[
The first two story arcs (out of nine) were also adapted into an [[Adventure Game]] series by [[Telltale Games]], though there's been no word for several years on whether they'll continue the adaptation.
Not to be confused with the TV series ''[[Bones]]'', the animation studio [[Studio BONES|BONES]], or the musical group [[Bone Thugs-n-Harmony]].
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{{tropelist}}
== ''Bone'' ==
* [[Action Girl]] : {{spoiler|Thorn, post [[Character Development]].}}
* [[Always a Bigger Fish]]: A couple of times—Kingdok versus Rock Jaw, and {{spoiler|the [[Zerg Rush|Dragons versus Mim]]}}.
*
* [[Animalistic Abomination]]: {{spoiler|The Lord of the Locust often manifests as a [[Plague of Locusts|swarm of locusts]] similar to those commanded by its [[The Dragon|Dragon]], The Hooded One - said Hooded One is also the undead body of Briar Harvestar, resurrected and possessed by the Lord of the Locust and accompanied by the same swarm.}}
* [[Anyone Can Die]]
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* [[Backstory]]
* [[Badass Boast]]: Phoney claiming to be able to kill dragons. Although he can't.
* [[Badass Grandpa]]: Lucius is at least as old as Gran'ma Ben, although he strays more into [[Retired Badass]] territory.
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* [[Beat Panel]]: Both humorous and non-humorous ones. And they work.
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* [[Better
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** [[Bigger Bad]]: The Lord of the Locusts.
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* [[Big Eater]]: Smiley Bone doesn't pack it away in impossible quantities, but plays the trope straight enough that people will comment that something is extremely strange if he's not the first at the table at mealtimes. This makes it doubly notable when he, in the ''Ghost Circles'' arc, refuses to eat his share of the food and insists that Bartleby takes it instead.
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* [[Blood
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** The Farmer whose cart the Bones stole.
** The campaign balloon.
** The solid snowfall in the first chapter.
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** Smiley slowly becomes smarter and more caring, and even learns to stand up to Phoney once in a while.
** Phoney himself begins to become more mature and less of a [[Jerkass]] only out to make money for himself, after he sees what his whole "Dragonslayer" con ends up doing.
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** {{spoiler|Phoney's balloon. It ends up inadvertently sending Briar on a [[Wild Goose Chase]] where she tries to capture Phoney Bone as her partner. Turns out Fone Bone was the one with the magical affiliation.}}
** Bet you thought Smiley having fun with static electricity was just some pointless comic relief, didn't you? Fortunately, Fone Bone remembers it when {{spoiler|Kingdok's tooth pins Thorn just out of reach of the Crown of Horns, and she can't transfer the power to Fone Bone. So Fone Bone builds up a static charge, grabs Thorn, and touches the Crown, using himself as a conductor}}.
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* [[Chekhov's Gunman]]: {{spoiler|Bartleby, the runaway Rat Creature. He comes back to aid the heroes in the climax after Smiley Bone saved his life.}}
** {{spoiler|The locusts that separate the cousins at the very beginning.}}
* [[Cloudcuckoolander]]: Smiley, until [[Cerebus Syndrome|things got more serious.]] Also the Rat Creatures, especially the purple one.
* [[Comic Trio]]: Though the Bone cousins are modeled into the "schemer, stupid and powerless" archetypes, they only fill the roles precisely in Phoney's schemes. In the main quest, Fone Bone actively influences Thorn and Gran'ma's decisions with strong counter-arguments, Smiley Bone gradually develops individual rational thinking and Phoney just follows along and grumps.
* [[Conservation of Ninjutsu]]: Inverted - the Rat Creatures are pretty harmless in small numbers. The more of them there are, the more bloodthirsty they become.
* [[Cosmic Keystone]]: {{spoiler|The Crown of Horns.}}
* [[Crazy Prepared]]: Apparently Smiley Bone has been carrying a labeled engraving kit in his vest the whole time.
* [[Crossover]]: Not in the comic itself, but the characters have made guest appearances in other comics, such as [[Gen 13]], [[Shi]], the [[Normalman]]/MegatonMan special, Patty Cake, [[The Savage Dragon]] and others.
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'''Rat Creature''' "I can't really argue with that, [[Lampshade Hanging|but I feel like I should]]." }}
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* [[First Law of Tragicomedies]]: Many of the serious story elements were [[Chekhov's Gun|set up from the very beginning]], though thankfully the series never loses its humor.
** It gets significantly less funny after a while. The (very) end brings it back to form.
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* [[Frame Break]]: The part in one book where Grandma Ben [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|punches through a wall to reach the rat creatures on the other side (the wall being represented by the comic gutter).]]
* [[Freudian Excuse]]: Phoney became cunning and greedy as the result of being orphaned as a child, growing up in absolute poverty, and having to raise his two cousins (also orphans) during this time.
** This is [[Justified Trope|justified]] because 1. Phoney isn't a villain, and 2. it also gave Phoney his good traits, such as his resourcefulness and [[Papa Wolf]] tendencies toward Smiley and Fone.
* [[Friendship Moment]]: Smiley bringing leftover dinner to Bartleby in Treasure Hunters.
{{quote|
'''Bartleby:''' Me either! }}
* [[Genre Busting]]
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* [[A God Am I]]: The Hooded One, to some extent. Then again, the Hooded One's master is {{spoiler|The Lord Of The Locusts.}}
* [[Good Is Not Nice]]:
** The Dragon saves Fone Bone from the Rat Creatures, warning him to leave the Valley before winter hits, but often gives cryptic advice with snark on the side. He also argues with Gran'ma Ben a lot when they talk.
** Gran'ma Ben is snarky, cynical, and bad-tempered. Fone Bone sees past her tough surface and thanks her for taking him and his brother in for the winter. {{spoiler|Granted, if your own sister betrayed your family so that you and your granddaughter are the only survivors and have to go into hiding while tyrants turn your kingdom into a theocracy, you would be bitter too}}.
* [[Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal|Half-Dressed Cartoon... Something-Or-Other]]: The Bone cousins, repeatedly lampshaded.
* [[Heel Realization]]: Phoney Bone gets a massive helping when a con of his backfires disastrously and results in Thorn's ally, the Dragon, being bound and gagged by the villagers, who are preparing to burn him. When Thorn discovers what Phoney has led them to do and been too cowardly to stop, she immediately and with absolute certainty declares that he is, obviously, an agent of the enemy.
* [[Heroic Sacrifice]]: {{spoiler|Lucius}} technically does this without knowing it. {{spoiler|He grabs Briar and keeps her from attacking Rose, and then [[Dropped a Bridge on Him|dies in a way that he couldn't have seen coming or avoided.]]}}
* [[Hero with Bad Publicity]]: Veni-Yen Cari.
* [[He's Back]]: {{spoiler|Bartleby}} in Volume Seven.
* [[Hidden Depths]]: Phoney.
* [[Holding Hands]]: Happens quite a lot in the series, but probably most famously when Thorn and Fone Bone meet for the first time, leaving the hot springs.
* [[How Many All of Them]]: After the Crown of Horns incident.
{{quote|
'''Great Red Dragon:''' All of them. }}
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* [[Idiot Hair]]: Of a sort; Thorn has the two strands of hair which usually don't seem to settle with rest of her hair.
* [[You Killed My Father|I Killed Your Father]]: {{spoiler|Kingdok to Thorn.}}
* [[Its Pronounced Tropay]]: The giant cougar Rocque Ja somehow knows when people call him "Rock Jaw" and gets pissed every time.
** You're supposed to use [[Trrrilling Rrrs]].
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** {{spoiler|He redeems himself in the last book - by allowing Thorn, Fone and Bartleby to escape to Tanen Gard.}}
*** I wouldn't go as far as to say {{spoiler|"redeem":}}. He hardly had anything to gain {{spoiler|by catching them again, as he has got the better deal with the Hooded One already (in the case they win) and besides, he hated the
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* [[Moment of Weakness]]: Lucius abandons his post when the war starts, when he sees a woman he recognizes and talks to her. This leads to his retinue getting slaughtered, and the survivors give him a [[What the Hell, Hero?]] {{spoiler|Lucius reveals he gave into temptation because the woman was Briar, his ex, whom he had assumed was dead. That and last time they met, the locusts had withered her face}}.
* [[My Significance Sense Is Tingling]]: Gran'ma Ben and the Gitchy Feeling.
* [[Never Mess with Granny|Never Mess With Gran'ma]]: Ben races cows for fun and gleefully fights Rat Creatures three times her size, outnumbered, and with only her bare hands... and ''wins''!
* [[New Powers as the Plot Demands]]: Thorn. She can {{spoiler|even fly.}}
* [[Nice Hat]]: Phoney wears a chef's hat while working in Lucius's kitchen, and Lucius even compliments him on it. Interestingly enough, the only other time he wears a hat in the series (with a huge feather in it), Lucius calls it a "stupid hat." The man definitely knows his tastes when it comes to hats.
** Invoked by Smiley when he first finds out Thorn is a princess and wonders if she'd let him borrow her crown, because he thinks he'd look cool with a crown. Then averted several issues later when he ''does'' get to wear the crown—except it's not made for someone with his head shape at all, and he ends up just looking silly.
* [[No-Holds-Barred Beatdown]]: {{spoiler|Happens to Thorn and Fone}}. It's not pretty. [[Tear Jerker|Not pretty at all]].
* [[Non-Standard Character Design]]: The Bone cousins, compared to the rest of The Valley. Very conspicuous at close ups on Fone Bone's face.
* [[No Name Given]]: The Rat Creatures. Only the royal Rat Creatures get names, the rest are nameless and generally just call each other "Comrade." In ''Quest For The Spark,'' this is confirmed to be a custom of the Rat Creatures: You only get a name if you're important enough to have one.
** In the same book, the two Stupid, Stupid Rat Creatures—after having spent the novel being referred to as "The Rat Creature" and "The Other Rat Creature" (and variations thereof) -- are finally given names by Abbey and Barclay Bone to avoid confusion ([[Real Life Writes the Plot|and probably because in prose it's less awkward that way]]). They name the yellow one {{spoiler|Smelly}} and the purple one {{spoiler|Stinky}}.
* [[Noodle Incident]]: Whenever the Bones talk about Phoney's pre-Valley schemes.
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* [[OOC Is Serious Business]]: Lucius has been established as the [[Only Sane Man]] of the Valley who sees through Phoney's scams and busts them. When the war starts, he accidentally abandons his post when seeing someone from his past, leading to a slaughter. Everyone is shocked and wondering if he is a spy. Nope; {{spoiler|he saw Briar, his ex-girlfriend and the one who betrayed her family to the locusts. Lucius was shocked because as far as he knew Briar was dead, and couldn't resist reuniting with her}}. Lucius kicks himself for this decision later {{spoiler|because of ''course'' Briar would never come back with any good intentions}}.
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* [[Papa Wolf]]: Not that Phoney ever has the opportunity to act on it, but messing with his cousins (or threatening to) is probably not the best idea.
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* [[Plague of Locusts]]: Locusts are a motif that play a major part in the series. A swarm of locusts occurs near the very beginning of the series, separating Fone Bone from his cousins. The swarm is implied to be connected to the enigmatic Hooded One, who commands an army of Rat Creatures and is [[The Man Behind the Man|the superior to their king]]. {{spoiler|The Hooded One is in turn [[The Dragon]] and [[The Heavy]] to [[Big Bad|The Lord of the Locust]], and is revealed to be the undead Briar Harvestar, whose body was resurrected and possessed by a swarm of locusts. Both the Lord of the Locust and believe Phoney Bone to be a key to their [[Evil Plan]].}}
* [[Plank Gag]]: Happens in The Great Cow Race. One page has Smiley holding a ladder from one end while the other is between Lucius and Phoney. In the back is Fone Bone is calling to Smiley, pointing to the left. In the next page, Smiley has completely turned around, while Lucius and Phoney are knocked over, clutching their heads in pain. Fone Bone has an "Oops!" look on his face.
* [[Poor Communication Kills]]:
* [[Quirky Miniboss Squad]]: [[Those Two Guys|Those two Stupid, Stupid Rat Creatures]].
** Also [[Punch Clock Villain]]s of a sort (except for the fact that they want to eat Fone Bone, they're not all that evil).
* [[Raised by Grandparents]]: Thorn is raised by her grandma from the time she was five years old.
* [[Reality Ensues]]: One regarding Gran'ma Ben and Lucius. Smiley comments that they seem to be attracted to each other, and asks why they don't get married. Indeed, Lucius always has his friend's back and jumps into the fray every time she is in danger. {{spoiler|The reason is that in the past, Lucius chose Rose's sister Briar over her, breaking Rose's heart. That Briar was playing him to get revenge on Rose as the favored sister didn't matter; Rose moved on, married someone else, and has grandkids. Lucius despite himself still loves Briar while knowing she became a monster. While they are amicable, Lucius admits that they have too much history to properly reconcile. It's implied they ''might'' have become a couple, after Lucius attacks Briar to save Rose in the climax, but Lucius dies shortly after and Rose properly forgives him.}}
* [[Rebellious Princess]]
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* [[Rescue Romance]]: Sort of. {{spoiler|Thorn}} and {{spoiler|Fone Bone}} already know each other by this point, but {{spoiler|his rescuing Thorn from the Hooded One during the Ghost Circles arc is the first time Thorn actually realizes that he has feelings for her.}}
* [[Retired Badass]]es: Gran'ma Ben and Lucius Down.
* [[The Reveal]]: {{spoiler|The Hooded One is Briar Harvestar, Gran'ma Ben's sister.}}
* [[Rodents of Unusual Size]]: Giant Rat Creatures, especially Kingdok.
* [[Samus Is a Girl]]: {{spoiler|The Hooded One}}
* [[Screw Destiny]]: Thorn says this a lot in the latter half of the story, especially when she {{spoiler|seeks the Crown of Horns}} despite her mentors telling her it can't be done. Whether or not this was her destiny to begin with is your mileage.
* [[Sealed Evil in a Can]]: Lord of the Locusts.
* [[Series Continuity Error]]: In one issue, Rocque Ja {{spoiler|cuts off Kingdok's tongue,}} and it's explicitly stated that {{spoiler|he can't speak with his tongue missing.}} Then, in a later issue, {{spoiler|Kingdok is able to speak again without any explanation given.}}
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** Averted with the Rat Creatures, whose males and females look exactly alike. One reader even wrote in to ask whether Rat Creatures had genders, and Jeff Smith jokingly answered that he'd never dared to check under their fur to find out. ''Stupid, Stupid Rat Tails'', however, identifies a few Rat Creatures as
* [[Thanatos Gambit]]: One possible explanation for {{spoiler|Mim's rampage}}.
* [[Theme Naming]]: Thorn, Rose, Briar.
** Also, 'Bartleby' is the name of the eponymous creepy office worker in Herman Melville's ''Bartleby, the Scrivener''. Herman Melville also wrote ''Moby-Dick'', the book that Fone Bone is obsessed with. This makes Smiley Bone's comment that "he ''looks'' like a Bartleby!" ridiculous to those in the know: he really, really doesn't.
*** The [[Contest Winner Cameo|Name the Baby Rat Creature contest]] was won by [[Narbonic|Shaenon K. Garrity]]
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* [[Too Dumb to Live]]
{{quote|'''Fone Bone''': "Those Rat Creatures would have to be pretty stupid [[Tempting Fate|to follow me on to this frail little branch]] [overlooking a cliff]."
''[beat]''
'''Fone Bone''': STUPID, ''STUPID'' RAT CREATURES! }}
* [[Took a Level in Badass]]: Done rather dramatically with Thorn. She goes from being a friendly, naive farm girl to one of the most grim and powerful characters in the entire series. She becomes a happy person again at the end of the story...considering she's now ''queen of the entire Valley!''
* [[Trademark Favorite Food]]:
** The purple Stupid Stupid Rat Creature. "You know we could have made quiche."
*** "Would you ''SHUT UP'' about quiche!"
** Also Smiley and "the stuffed bread thingies" that Gran'ma makes for him. He likes it when they're extra stale.
*** To a
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* [[Unreliable Expositor]]: When Gran'ma Ben is forced to reveal who she and her granddaughter really are, she explains that she and Thorn are in hiding because a nursemaid betrayed the family to the locusts, and she was only able to save Thorn from the slaughter. Thorn later tells Phoney and Smiley that she ''may'' not remember much about her past, but she doesn't ever recall a nursemaid, and why would her grandmother lie about it? {{spoiler|The answer is horrifying; the traitor was Rose's own sister Briar who willingly went to the locusts out of a desire for power. Rose didn't want to tell Thorn because she's still coping with the realization that Briar was evil}}.
* [[The Usual Adversaries]]: Rat Creatures
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** Also, the development of the film in the 90's (see above). If it weren't for Nickelodeon's piss-poor decisions, we would probably have one epic animated saga that rivals Don Bluth's films!
* [[What Is Evil?]]: Rock Jaw has his own viewpoint on good and evil, finding both terms to be equally laughable.
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== ''Rose and Stupid Stupid Rat Tails/Tall Tales'' ==
* [[Adaptation Expansion]]: "The Powers That Be" from ''Tall Tales'' provides an extended version of one of the ''Thorn'' comics Jeff Smith made in college.
* [[Animalistic Abomination]]: {{spoiler|The Lord of the Locust is revealed to have originated as a nightmare spirit that desired to walk the Waking World, and became this when it possessed the Dragon Queen Mim to do so.}}
* [[Animals Lack Attributes]]: Averted with Roque Ja the mountain lion, who when seen from behind has a very prominent scrotum.
* [[Big Eater]]: "Big Johnson Bone Vs. The Cobbler Gobbler" (from ''Tall Tales'')
* [[Breather Episode]]: The light-hearted prequel, ''Stupid Stupid Rat Tails'', came out between the Hooded One's identity being revealed and the Ghost Circles arc.
* [[Children Are Innocent]]: In ''Stupid Stupid Rat Tails'', after {{spoiler|Big Johnson makes Tyson bite off his tail and ultimately ticks off Queen Maud, who believes her 'baby' to be completely innocent.}}
* [[Determinator]]: Big Johnson Bone '''is''' this trope.
* [[
* [[Fat Girl]]: Queen Maud in ''Stupid Stupid Rat Tails''. 'Nuff said. It's kind of scary to see her next to her tiiiny little handmaidens.
* [[Freudian Excuse]]: ''Rose'' implies that Briar suffered (real or imagined) neglect as a child.
* [[Getting Crap Past the Radar]]: The founder of Boneville and the Bone's ancestor, Big Johnson Bone. Ha!
* [[Grievous Harm
* [[Mama Bear]]: Queen Maud towards the end of ''Stupid Stupid Rat Tails''.
* [[Monster Is a Mommy]]: Queen Maud in ''Stupid Stupid Rat Tails''. She does not take the fact that Big Johnson was causing her giant "baby" Tyson's "sickness" very well.
* [[Nice Hat]]: Smiley's scoutmaster hat in ''Tall Tales''. Big Johnson Bone also has a nice coonskin cap.
* [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero]]: In the prequel, not only does Rose unleash Balsaad, {{spoiler|but after killing him she spares Briar's life, allowing the events of the original series to happen}}.
** Ah, but think of the [[Fridge Brilliance]]. {{spoiler|If the events of the original series did not happen, then the Locust wouldn't have been killed and would most likely corrupt Thorn instead, since she's also a Veni-Yan Cari, essentially turning her into a new vessel for the Locust.}}
* [[Noodle Implements]]: In ''Stupid Stupid Rat Tails'':
{{quote|
* [[Off
** Excepting, perhaps, the Great Red Dragon, whose chin gradually grows longer every time he appears in-panel.
* [[Plague of Locusts]]: ''Rose'' delves into the Valley's [[Creation Myth]], where {{spoiler|the Lord of the Locust's origin is shown. [[Eldritch Abomination|A nightmare spirit]] that desires to walk the Waking World, it sought to possess the Dragon Queen Mim, who [[Cosmic Keystone|kept the world in balance]] by [[Ouroboros|holding her tail in her mouth]] - but the possession drove her mad, and the dragons turned her to stone, sealing them both beneath the Valley’s eastern mountains. In the then-present day of the main story, the Lord of the Locust manipulates Briar's jealousy of Rose to gain her servitude and engineer its release}}.
* [[Sadistic Choice]]: Rose faces one in the climax of her story. The dragon ordered her to kill the first living creature that she sees. Briar and her dog appear on the river floes and wash onshore. {{spoiler|Rose prepares to cut down Briar, livid at her for the betrayal and wanting to release the Lord of Locusts. Briar begs for her life, pointing out that Rose's dog appeared at the same time as she did, and she is sorry for her actions. She also makes a legitimate point that if Rose kills her, it would be kinslaying and Rose would likely be punished for the deed even if she had the right reasons. Despite herself, Rose chooses to [[Mercy Kill]] her loyal hound, who followed her on this quest, and lies to the royal guard that the locusts aged Briar. It makes her queen and a hero, but the dragon gives her a disappointed glare. Rose and the Dragon in ''Bone'' have an argument about this later; as Rose puts it, the Dragon wasn't clear in his instructions and more guidance would have helped}}.
* [[Scout Out]]: The framing story for ''Tall Tales'' is that Smiley is telling campfire stories to Bone Scouts.
* [[Shoot the Dog]]: In ''Rose''.
* [[Small Name, Big Ego]]: Big Johnson is pretty much a reconstruction of this. He has an unrealistically high opinion of himself, but he's able to make up for it with the impressive abilities that he actually does have.
* [[Treasure Map]]: Phoney Bone finds one in the first story of ''Tall Tales''. He and Fone Bone subsequently decide to hunt for the treasure instead of do laundry, {{spoiler|only to find that the "riches", which Thorn supposedly buried, [[And Your Reward Is Clothes|consist of Phoney Bone's dirty laundry]]}}.
* [[Unfortunate Names]]: Boneville's founder, "Big" Johnson Bone.
* [[Unreliable Narrator]]: Big Johnson
== ''Quest for the Spark'' ==
* [[Adventurers Club]]: Boneville's mentioned to have one, with Abbey and Barclay's parents and Percival as members. With the exception of those three, the club members are about the only ones who don't believe the Bone cousins' stories about the Valley.
*
** The two Stupid, Stupid Rat Creatures might also
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* [[The Chains of Commanding]]: Tom struggles with being the appointed leader of the group; especially when Randolf makes it no secret that he doubts Tom's ability to do so.
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* [[Coming of Age Story]]: It's shaping up to be this for Tom Elm.
* [[Companion Cube]]: A dead squirrel to Stinky the Rat Creature, which he has dubbed "Fredrick".
* [[Cool Airship]]: ''The Queen of the Sky,'' Percival's mode of transport. It looks like a
* [[Cool Old Guy]]: Percival F. Bone, functioning like a [[Team Dad|Team Grampa.]]
* [[Crusading Widower]]: Randolf Clearmeadow, an old Veni Yan Warrior who is one of the people [[Big Good|The Dreaming]] chose.
* [[Demoted to Extra]]: Gran'ma Ben, Thorn, and the Great Red Dragon make cameos. Fone, Smiley, Phoney and Bartleby are mentioned, but don't actually appear.
* [[
* [[
* [[Gotta Catch Em All]]: Pieces of the Spark
* [[Nature Spirit]]: Lorimar of the First Folk, who originally came from the Dreaming and has tied herself to the forest of the Waking World, possessing plants and organic plant life in order to communicate with the characters. {{spoiler|It turns out that the plants don't even have to be living and growing in order for her to possess it, which leads to her taking up residence in the ''Queen of the Sky'' for a time.}}
* [[Paper
* [[Parental Abandonment]]: Abbey and Barclay's parents disappeared while searching for the Valley. Also, Roderick's parents were eaten by Rat Creatures {{spoiler|causing him to take it badly when the group has to include two of them}}.
* [[People Puppets]]: The Nacht's minions control victims this way.
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* [[Retired Badass]]: Randolf Clearmeadow, before he becomes a [[Crusading Widower]].
* [[Sibling Rivalry]]: Mild case with the Bone twins, Abbey and Barclay, who spend most of their time bickering, but do genuinely love each other.
* [[Sibling Seniority Squabble]]: Abbey Bone is two minutes and twenty-three seconds older than her twin brother, and takes every possible opportunity reminding him of that fact, even going so far as referring to him as "my little brother Barclay."
* [[Suspiciously Similar Substitute]]: King Agak, the new Rat Creature king, has more than a few traits in common with his predecessor Kingdok (though he's notably less
{{reflist}}
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