Tara Duncan

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

Tara Duncan is the heroine of a popular French fantasy book series for young adults,written by Sophie Audouin-Mamikonian. She is a young "spellbinder", who has been labeled the "French little sister" of Harry Potter. An animated series has been produced by Moonscoop.

Tropes used in the books include:
  • Alpha Bitch: Angelica.
  • The Beautiful Elite:All main characters are gorgeous (even Big Bad Magister claim to be this),and every new guy encountered by Tara (Robin,Sylver,then Archangel) is said to be even more handsome than the previous one.
    • Betty is the only exception, being pudgy and with glasses.
    • Zig-Zagging Trope: She loose weight and her glasses in book five during her imprisonment.Back on Earth her parents notice she's now a "gorgeous young lady." Then she regain her weight.
  • Big Bad: Magister.
  • Celebrity Paradox :The characters say that their story is true, and that Sophie Audouin-Mamikonian is Tara's official biograph.
  • Everything's Better with Princesses:Tara and her sister Mara is an imperial princess,Sparrow a minor one,the dragon Charm is one, and Fafnir is a kind of a princess too.
    • Sophie Audouin-Mamikonian is a Real Life one too, in fact.
  • Familiar:Every spellbinder have one.Those animals go spontaneously to The Chosen One, share a telepathic bind with him, and have golden eyes.
  • Lemony Narrator: Sophie Audouin-Mamikonian mocks her characters in footnotes,do comparisons of their gestures with famous movies,and, in later books, gave the chapters overly descriptives long titles.
  • Loads and Loads of Characters:New characters are added in every books, and they are all encountered again in later ones.
  • Muggles: They're called Nonsos (No Sorcerers).
  • Muggle Best Friend:Betty, the only prominent nonsos character, and who stay on earth most of the time for that reason.
  • Planetary Romance: Autremonde (Elseworld) is more this than Another Dimension because it's really another planet (even if it's reached via Cool Gate).The dragons's planet count too.
Tropes used in the animated series include:
  • Alpha Bitch: Sandra
  • Alternate Universe: Word of God confirms that the animated series is a different universe from the books, particularly in that Tara will not end up with Robin.
  • Blondes Are Evil: Inverted, black-haired Sandra is evil, and she is contrasted by two good blondes, Tara and Livia.
  • Expy: Sandra greatly resembles Libby from Sabrina the Teenage Witch, even down to being suspicious of Tara's power.
  • Inconsistent Dub: Just what is the name of the evil vampire lady who seemed to have some vendetta against Tara's mother? So far, the dub has called her Serena, Solara, and Selenba (her name in the original French.)
  • Not Using the W Word: Tara is offended when Sandra calls her a witch, since "spellbinders" are apparently a different thing entirely.
  • Our Monsters Are Different: Virtually anything and everything (harpies, vampires, werewolves) can cast spells as witches do. Ironically enough, actual witches do not seem to exist.
  • Retcon: The writers seem to go back and forth on whether it is Sandra or Livia who has a crush on Cal.
    • In one episode, Sparrow needs Tara's help for fashion advice. In virtually every other episode, Sparrow is the fashion-obsessed one.
    • Some episodes imply that Tara grew up on Earth with a "normal" life, and others make clear she knew about magic her entire life.
  • Tomboy and Girly Girl: Tara and Sparrow, respectively. Partially subverted in that Sparrow frequently turns into a hulking monster.