Mirror Duet

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

"Every dream you've ever had, and every dream yet to come, exists somewhere in the Kingdoms of the Void. Every nightmare, too. Because there has to be balance - it's the rules."

Two books written by Catherine Webb: Mirror Dreams and Mirror Wakes, set in the land of Dreams and Nightmare.

Tropes used in Mirror Duet include:

"Let's see what a hundred years have done for your memories. Who made the elementals' network?"
The cry was taken up only by a few older agents, but they said it with a passion and conviction the carried across the room. "Kite!"
"Who prevented the Seven-Kingdom revolt?"
"Kite!" More voices now, as more memories clicked.
"Who introduced he canteen in the lower halls?"
"Kite!"
"Whose soup gave everyone food poisoning for a week?"
"Kite!" I doubt there wasn't a single voice which didn't yell out.
"And who's standing on stage now, saying that you," I pointed a dramatic finger at Jehirer, "are no good at the job?"
The cry shook the ceiling and echoed across the hall.
"Kite! Kite! Kite! Kite!"

  • Balance Between Good and Evil: Without the balance between dreams and nightmare, the people of Earth will destroy themselves and there will be no more Void, no more dreams, no more nightmare.
    • In a strange way, between the Void and Earth, too.

Dreamers affect the physical form of our world, we affect the mental shape of theirs. Who now the greater power holds?

  • Bastard Bastard: Xavian, the Firepoint and Sunpoint crossbreed.
  • The Big Board: The Silverhand Consortium has one, mapping kingdoms aligned to dreams and nightmare and neutral kingdoms as well.
  • Breaking the Fourth Wall: Our mage in white addresses us all the time.

Laenan Kite (after a long and flowery bit of exposition): Don't you dare fall asleep on me yet!
Laenan Kite: Sorry guys, dreamers are never in the kingdom long enough - the longest you see and dreamer for is ten or so hours - to set up shop. So, you wanna job? You gotta stick to your own dull little planet.
Laenan Kite: Are you surprised, dreamer? Are you surprised that I could be so much less of a man within? Do not be.
Laenan Kite: Noses always itch at the worst possible time, dear dreamer.

  • Combat Pragmatist: Most mages don't think of bringing guns and knives to a fight. Kite also applies the laws of physics in his magic, so when his opponent makes a giant flashy fireball he simply adjusts the heat flow and kicks them in the shins.
  • Dangerously Genre Savvy: Kite, only you would think of turning shit into acid.
    • Scry-blocks.
  • Dream Apocalypse: As Kite points out, if someone is a dream, what happens when their dreamer dies? Creates a Fridge Logic moment when you realise that Renna is immortal and Kite is her dream.
  • Dream Land: Our setting
  • Dream Spying: On our lord of dreams, with Earth as the dream, no less.
  • Dreaming the Truth
  • Dreaming of Things to Come: Lots of dream tropes, eh?
  • Dream Weaver: Mages can create worlds that respond to their mind - dreams or nightmares. However it takes a lot of resources, time and paperwork galore.
  • Evil Gloating: You should have really known better, Serein.
  • First-Person Smartass
  • Fisher King: The kingdoms of the Void.
  • Hannibal Lecture: Oh so often. Having dealt with so many lords of nightmare Kite usually has some pretty snappy comebacks, too. YMMV on if they are actually justifications, or just make Kite feel better. Lampshaded:

Laenan Kite: Anger at Renna for using me, anger at Miriam for refusing to see the truth, anger that, in their own strange ways, all of them were right. Even Xavian, in a way. There had been to much war.

Laenan Kite: Too many titles have always worried me, and that sentence was packed full of them. I've had enough titles in my time to fill a small book, and I know they bring nothing but trouble.

Laenan Kite: In fact, he looked bloody well just like me. And I'm not kidding. He had the same blue eyes, the dark hair, the same ordinary nose, chin, face . . .

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