Castle in the Air: Difference between revisions
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| author = Diana Wynne Jones
| central theme =
| elevator pitch = 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 = Fantasy
| franchise = Howl's Castle
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* {{spoiler|[[Harem Seeker]]}}: {{spoiler|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 {{spoiler|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 {{spoiler|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. {{spoiler|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 {{spoiler|comes true}}, and the second {{spoiler|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.}}
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* [[The Reveal]]: The book features so many of them the proper article here would be "a". {{spoiler|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, {{spoiler|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. {{quote|''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.''}}
{{reflist}}
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