Castle in the Air

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Castle in the Air

Written by:	Diana Wynne Jones
Central Theme:
Synopsis:	The carpet merchant Abdullah's life completely changes after being sold a flying carpet, which leads him to the princess Flower-in-the-Night.
Genre(s):	Fantasy
Series:	Howl's Castle
Preceded by:	Howl's Moving Castle (novel)
Followed by:	House of Many Ways
First published:	1990
More Information
The Wiki Rule:	Howl's Moving Castle Wiki

A companion piece to Howl's Moving Castle, written by Diana Wynne Jones, Castle in the Air centers on Abdullah, a moderately successful carpet merchant who daydreams of adventures and beautiful princesses. That is, until a stranger sells him a magic flying carpet and all his dreams begin coming true.

Like Howl's Moving Castle, the story lampshades, subverts and plays with various tropes related to the Arabian Nights.

Do not confuse with the trope Castle in the Sky. No relation to Laputa: Castle in the Sky .

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See Howl's Castle for the list of tropes common to all of the books in this franchise.

Tropes used in Castle in the Air include:

• Arabian Nights Days: Abdullah's homeland is this.
• Baleful Polymorph: A number of the main characters from Howl's Moving Castle turn out to have been trapped in the form of various creatures.
• Beta Couple: Abdullah and Flower in the Night are the main couple, with Justin and Beatrice as the Beta Couple. The alpha and beta couples from Howl's Moving Castle also appear in supporting roles.
• Castle in the Sky: There's one created by djinns, appearing like a large cloud from the distance. The book teases the trope, stating how the clouds in the sky look like a castle, before Abdullah and Sophie travel to one in the last quarter of the book. It's there in the title! This is where all the kidnapped princesses are kept.
• Chekhov's Gun: Just about everything, really.
• Chekhov's Gunman: Pick a character, any character. Most importantly, the djinn admits to having a hand in everything the main characters go through. Naturally, he's in disguise for most of the important events.
• Damsel in Distress: Subverted. While the kidnapped princesses are being held captive, they do make several escape plans.
• Everything's Better With Princesses: Many princesses from all over the world, from nations both large and obscure, are kidnapped and placed in the Castle in the Sky. Once Abdullah reaches the princesses, princess chaos ensues. This is even lampshaded in the title of the chapter "Which is Full of Princesses".
• Genie in a Bottle
• Harem Seeker: One of the djinn.
• Jackass Genie: He grants only one wish a day and thinks up ways to specifically screw whoever makes the wish over. His justification is being stuffed in an old bottle makes him cranky. Toward the end, the genie is revealed to be Howl, cursed to be a genie by the djinn.
• Long Title: It's pretty obvious author Diana Wynne Jones had a lot of fun coming up with chapter titles. Chapter five, "Which Tells how Flower-in-the-Night's Father Wished to Raise Abdullah Above All Others in the Land", takes the crown.
• Magic Carpet: Turns out to be Calcifer, changed into a carpet by the djinn.
• Mama Bear: Sophie. Do NOT harm Morgan Jenkins if you know what's good for you.
• Ominous Floating Castle: The djinn's hideout. Turns out to be none other than Howl's moving castle, transformed by magic.
• Opposite Gender Protagonists: Flower-in-the-Night and Abdullah. Abdullah, a carpet merchant, daydreams that he will be engaged to a beautiful princess. When he is sold a flying carpet, that dream comes true as the carpet takes him away to Flower-in-the-Night. Of course, things are never that simple, and after brief interactions she is taken away by a djinn to a Castle in the Sky; it's up to Abdullah to rescue her. In this case, the trope is used to motivate the male lead.
• Our Genies Are Different: Played with -- the two djinns mentioned are powerful, but one has control over a host of angels, which is in line with some mythology, but they also have more of a demonic shape. There is also a genie, which is the normal granter of wishes.
• Prophecy Twist: Flower-in-the-Night is prophesied to marry the first man besides her father she sees. Abdullah is prophesied that the sultan will raise him above all others. The first prophecy comes true, and the second turns out to be that the sultan wants Abdullah to marry to fulfill Flower-in-the-Night's prophecy, and then put Abdullah's head on a very high stake. Even though that doesn't happen, the prophecy is still fulfilled once Abdullah uses the flying carpet to reach the djinns' castle, with the sultan a major driving force of the adventure.
• Rags to Royalty: Given that Abdullah is a common carpet merchant in love with a princess, this should be obvious. It's averted entirely. Instead, Abdullah and Flower-In-The-Night are given diplomatic titles and live well, but certainly not as King and Queen.
• The Reveal: The book features so many of them the proper article here would be "a". Midnight was Sophie from the first book, and Whippersnapper was her son Morgan. The last chapter reveals that the genie was Howl and the flying carpet was Calcifer.
• Save the Princess: Abdullah's quest. Later on, the djinn admits that he's tried to bait many princes into trying to rescue their beloveds; but Abdullah has so far been the only one to try.
• Talk About the Weather: One of the princesses in the castle complains that, since it's up above the clouds, there isn't any weather to talk about.

The silence became uneasy. It was broken by the elderly princess saying, "The most distressing thing about being up here above the clouds is that there is no weather to make conversation out of.