Graceling: Difference between revisions
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{{
{{quote|
''Graceling'' is a fantasy [[Young Adult]] novel by first-time author Kristin Cashore. The heroine, [[Action Girl|Katsa]], is "Graced" with [[Cursed
It also has a [[Spin
Yes, human monsters exist - or one still does: the titular Fire. Aside from getting hit hard with [[A Mind Is a Terrible Thing
The trilogy has been rounded off now with the third book ''Bitterblue''. Though a direct sequel to the first book, examples are also listed separately as they will contain spoilers to Graceling.
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{{tropelist}}
* [[Action Girl]]: Katsa. Bitterblue is slowly heading towards this direction.
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* [[Beautiful Dreamer]]: Katsa admires Po this way at least once. Of course, after making sure he's ''really'' asleep of course.
* [[Berserk Button]]: Do NOT imply that Po is Katsa's "sensible keeper". Or anything of that sort.
* [[Blessed
** If you're lucky and your Grace is useful to the king of whatever country you live in, you'll be kept at court. If you're unlucky, then you get sent home, where you'll most likely be ridiculed for your useless Grace. If you're ''really'' lucky, you live in Lienid, where the Gracelings are free and treated with something like respect.
* [[Brainwashed]]: {{spoiler|Anyone who meets King Leck, thanks to his Grace.}}
* [[Blind Seer]]: {{spoiler|Po becomes this. Well, he already had the Seer part down (sensing everyone's presence, reading minds), but he does lose his eyesight later on.}}
* [[But You Screw One Goat!]]: {{spoiler|Implied that King Leck does this to animals at his orphanage before brutally hacking them to bits.}}
** YMMV on whether that was the implication, or if {{spoiler|Leck simply liked hurting them}}.
* [[Bullet Time]]: {{spoiler|Why Po is so good at fighting}}.
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* [[Combat Clairvoyance]]: {{spoiler|Prince Po}}'s Grace equates to this in a fight.
* [[Crapsack World]]: Sort of subverted. As long as you don't offend any of the kings and live as isolated as possible, you should be all right. Usually.
* [[Cursed
* [[Deadpan Snarker]]: Katsa has traces of this earlier in the novel.
* [[Decoy Protagonist]]: King Randa of the Decoy Villan variety.
* [[Determinator]]: Katsa really wants to be the best at everything, whether it's from archery to just racing up the stairs.
** There's also the bit where she {{spoiler|crosses [[Death Course|Grella's Pass]] with Bitterblue in ''the middle of a blizzard''}}.
* [[Differently
* {{spoiler|[[Disability Superpower]]}}: What Po's Grace becomes.
* [[The Dog Bites Back]]: Katsa comments about how Randa knows how to make her feel like a brutal dog. She then tells him how she will kill all of the hundreds of guards he has with him, along with Randa himself.
* [[Embarrassing First Name]]: Po's real name is ''Greening Gandemallion''.
* [[Everyone Can See It]]: Everyone except Katsa knew that Giddon had a crush on Katsa. Oh, and that Katsa and Po liked each other.
* [[Exclusive Powers]]: Graces are very unique and strange skills that Gracelings, people who get these powers in general. They are identified by mismatched eyes that appears during a few months after birth or around early childhood. These skills can range from singing, giving dreams, never sleeping, and so forth.
* [[Female Gaze]]: Katsa to Po a number of times.
* [[Fighting From the Inside]]: Po and Bitterblue are pretty good at this. Katsa, not so much.
* [[Freak
* [[Good People Have Good Sex]]: Katsa and Po.
* [[Hair
* [[Hannibal Lecture]]: Randa to Katsa.
** Katsa eventually gets an ''epic'' [[Shut UP, Hannibal]] moment in the form of a [[World of Cardboard Speech]].
* [[Heroic BSOD]]: Po {{spoiler|after he goes blind}}.
* [[Hot Amazon]]: Katsa, once again.
* [[Ho Yay]]: Raffin and Bann. According to [[Word of God]], their canocity is her most frequently asked question.
{{quote|
'''Po''': It's all right, you know. Other people don't have to understand.
'''Katsa''': I worry about it.
'''Po''': Don't worry about it. We'll muddle through. And there are those who do understand. Raffin does. And Bann.
'''Katsa''': Yes, I suppose they do. }}
* [[Important Haircut]]: Strangely enough Bitterblue's haircut and not Katsa's. Bitterblue's haircut symbolizes she's no longer a pampered, sheltered princess. Katsa just found long hair annoying.
* [[Kissing Cousins]]: See Childhood Marriage Promise up above.
* [[
* [[La Résistance]]: Katsa's Council is a mild version of this. Or at least, they're too chicken to openly rebel against King Randa.
** Yes, they're "too chicken" to risk destabilizing an entire kingdom, rendering it easy prey for the surrounding kingdoms and their tyrannical kings to waltz in and conquer.
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* [[Love At First Punch]]: For Po at least. Actually, a big part of Katsa's and Po's relationship is centered on trying to punch each others' guts out. Being that both of them are accomplished fighters who revel in sparring matches, this is much less dysfunctional than it sounds.
* [[Mass Hypnosis]]: {{spoiler|Not only Leck's Kingdom, but everyone who personally meets King Leck. In fact, anyone who hears King Leck, and then talks to other people, who then talk to ''other'' people, taking this to [[Up to Eleven]] levels.}}
* [[A Mind Is a Terrible Thing
* [[Mismatched Eyes]]: This is the Graceling indicator.
* [[Oblivious to Love]]: Katsa, full stop. Not just to Po's love for her, but to her own love for Po.
* [[One Person, One Power]]
* [[Promotion to Love Interest]]: Happens to Po about halfway through the book.
* [[Romantic False Lead]]: Poor, poor Giddon.
* [[Running Gag]]: Katsa "abusing" her horses from overwork.
** Probably also qualifies as Somewhere an Equestrian is Crying. Seriously, she rides her horses full tilt at night for hours because its 'only' five or six more leagues until they get home and she's too impatient to wait for morning. One of the other characters asks if she is still ruining the horses.
* [[Shut UP, Hannibal]]: Randa gives Katsa a [[Hannibal Lecture]] when she refuses to obey him. She responds by telling him exactly how she'll kill every guard in the throne room and himself, before leaving.
* [[Stay in
* [[Superpower Lottery]]: Graces can be anything from being good at climbing trees to dancing to mind reading.
* [[Telepathy]]: {{spoiler|Po's real grace.}} Note that it works only when people's thoughts are specifically focused on him.
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* [[With My Hands Tied]]: While Katsa doesn't actually get tied up, she trains in order to counter a situation like this.
* [[The Woman Wearing the Queenly Mask]]: Bitterblue becomes this. Guessing from what [[Word of God]] says about the Bitterblue-focused sequel, this will bite her in the ass later.
* [[World of Cardboard Speech]]: Katsa gives one to Randa during her [[Shut UP, Hannibal]] moment by detailing ''exactly'' how she could slaughter him and every one of the two hundred guards he has surrounding her.
* [[Writer
* [[You Gotta Have Blue Hair]]: Raffin dyes his hair blue by accident.
* [[Absurdly Youthful Mother|Absurdly Youthful Father]]: {{spoiler|[[Spear Counterpart|Brigan.]]}}
* [[Action Girl]]: Fire's guard contains a few; if Hanna doesn't become one of these when she ages past, say, six, I'll eat my hat. Fire isn't, not really.
** Actually, the whole ''army'' contains over five hundred of these, due to Brigan completely averting the [[Stay in
* [[All of the Other Reindeer]]: Ah, Fire.
* [[Amazing Technicolor Wildlife]]: Animal monsters.
* [[A Mind Is a Terrible Thing
* [[The Archer]]: [[Meaningful Name|Archer]] didn't get his nickname from swordfighting.
** Fire.
* [[Bi the Way]]: Fire's first lover was a maid named Liddy, whom Cansrel sent away to end their relationship.
* [[Body Horror]]: Brocker's legs were shattered. Not broken, shattered. By eight men taking turns with mallets.
* [[Blessed
* [[The Casanova]]: Archer.
* [[Closed Door Rapport]]: Fire insists on this with Nash at first, since seeing her face reduces him to a babbling idiot. Eventually he gets better.
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* [[Creepy Child]]: Leck.
* [[Crapsack World]]: Very much so, though the royal family are trying to make it less of one.
* [[Death
* [[Dirty Mind Reading]]: Mind reading + [[So Beautiful
* [[A Father to His Men]]: Brigan, very much so.
* [[Enfant Terrible]]: Leck. Isn't it nice to know that {{spoiler|torturing animals and killing people}} has been going on his whole life?
* [[Friend to All Living Things]]: Fire loves animals and they love her, especially since she can sense their minds.
* [[Friend to All Children]]: Fire again, which is why her resolution to remain the last of her kind is so difficult to keep. She compensates by taking care of her friends' children.
* [[Friends
* [[Genius Ditz]]: Clara may seem silly at first meeting, but she's actually one of the Dells' highest-ranking spymasters.
* [[Green
* [[Green Eyed Red Head]]: Fire, who inherited it from her mother
* [[Heroic Bastard]]: Clara, Garan, Archer, {{spoiler|and Brigan.}}
* [[Heroic BSOD]]: Fire has one after {{spoiler|she kills her father}}. And another, years later, when {{spoiler|she finds Archer's body}}.
* [[Heroes Want Redheads]]: Fire.
* [[Humans Are
* [[I Did What I Had to Do]]: {{spoiler|See [[Self
* [[I Love You Because I Can't Control You]]: Brigan's mind is so disciplined that he can block Fire's powers, which unsettles her, but is also a part of what makes her fall for him.
* [[If You Die, I Call Your Stuff]]: Just before a dangerous mission, Fire jokingly does this in order to get a sleepy Brigan to pay attention.
* [[Ill Girl]]: Garan is an Ill Man.
* [[Inverse Law of Fertility]]: A variation. Fire, as mentioned, wants children, and she's physically capable of having them {{spoiler|at least until she utilizes a permanent form of [[Fantasy Birth Control]]}} but she doesn't dare, because she doesn't want to give birth to someone who could become another [[Complete Monster|Cansrel]].
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* [[Lamarck Was Right]]: A large theme of the story is [[Defied Trope|defying this]]. "If we are all to be judged by our parents and grandparents, we all may as well impale ourselves on pointy bits of rock."
* [[Last of Her Kind]]: And Fire is damn well going to keep it that way.
* [[Like Parent, Like Spouse]]: {{spoiler|No wonder Fire falls in love with gray-eyed, stoic, military genius Brigan. He's Brocker's son.}}
* [[Luke, I Am Your Father]]: Hoooooo boy. Let's see, we have: {{spoiler|Fire I Am Your Grandmother, Archer I Am Your Real Father (semi-subverted since Archer always knew he wasn't really Brocker's son), and Brigan I Am Your Father.}}
* [[Morality Pet]]: In a rare instance, the hero ''is'' the pet; Fire was this to Cansrel. Hanna to Brigan, too, although he's not mean, just cold.
* [[Morality Chain]]: Subverted. Fire wanted to become this, but she couldn't.
* [[No Periods, Period]]: Averted. And the blood draws even ''more'' predators to Fire.
* [[Not So Different]]: The core message of {{spoiler|Leck's}} [[Hannibal Lecture]] to Fire.
* [[Offing the Offspring]]: {{spoiler|Archer is shot by his biological father (see [[Rape
* [[One Person, One Power]]: Each Graceling has one Grace, although it is possible to elaborate on it.
* [[One Steve Limit]]: Followed technically, but Nash and Nax are close enough together to be annoying.
* [[Only Known
* [[Parental Substitute]]: Brocker to Fire, even while Cansrel was still alive.
* [[Pet the Dog]]: In Brigan's case, be nice to the monster's horse and replace her broken violin.
* [[Posthumous Character]]: Cansrel and King Nax. Cansrel is quite well developed like this, too.
* [[Rape
* [[Retired Badass]]: Brocker was the king's best war leader.
* [[Royals Who Actually Do Something]]: The ''entire'' royal family.
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* [[Shotacon]] and [[Lolicon]]: Nax and Cansrel are mentioned to have had children from the court 'to make a change from the women'.
* [[Skunk Stripe]]: Queen Roan.
* [[So Beautiful
* [[Self
* [[Spin
* [[Stay in
* [[Tall, Dark and Handsome]]: Brigan.
* [[They Call Him "Sword"]]: Archer
* [[True Companions]]
* [[We Can Rule Together]]: {{spoiler|Leck wants Fire as his "partner". Her answer is to send him falling into some sharp rocks, explaining why he has an eyepatch in the later book.}}
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* [[Woman Scorned]]: {{spoiler|Nax was the [[Spear Counterpart]].}}
* [[Worthy Opponent]]: Fire has a certain respect for Murgda, one of the rebel leaders.
* [[Wrong
* [[Unlucky Childhood Friend]]: Archer was lucky for a while, but Fire eventually dumps him.
* [[Yamato Nadeshiko]]: Fire fits pretty well if you place the Dells in the position of family: A sweet girl with inner iron that tries to a [[Morality Chain]] and lives [[Fantasy Counterpart Culture|east of the first book's setting]]
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* [[Complete Monster]]: Leck. The story is about the Kingdom of Monsea recovering from his tyranical rule, normally this trope falls into YMMV but the following tropes detailing his acts leave no doubt.
** [[Compelling Voice]] > [[Mass Hypnosis]] > [[Getting Smilies Painted
*** [[Mind Rape]]: The short version of the above.
*** [[Double Standard Rape (Sci Fi)]]: Averted. Sci-fi rape, yes. Double standard, no.
*** [[Rape
*** [[Medical Rape and Impregnate]]: {{spoiler|Leck would rape women in order to perform medical experiments on pregnant women.}}
*** [[Medical Horror]]: One of Lecks great passions was his "hospital" where he would perfom surgical experiments. His impulse control problems often caused his subjects to die too quickly as he would perform multiple simultanius experiments on a single person.
*** {{spoiler|[[Child
*** [[Brainwashed and Crazy]]:
* [[Government Conspiracy]]: Bitterblue suspects there is one, her [[Voice of the Resistance|new friends]] are sure there is one.
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[[Category:Young Adult Literature]]
[[Category:Graceling]]
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