The Bartimaeus Trilogy: Difference between revisions

* ''The Ring of Solomon,'' a prequel set, [[Exactly What It Says On the Tin|surprisingly enough]], in the time of Solomon.

 

 

* [[Action Girl]]: Kitty, Asmira from the prequel, and some of the "female" demons, assuming they have genders.

* [[Amazon Brigade]]: The hereditary guards of the Queen of Sheba in ''The Ring of Solomon''.

* [[Ambition Is Evil]]

** Nathaniel, at his high points.

** Bartimaeus and Kitty too. (Yes, Kitty has noble intentions, but do remember that she's a terrorist.) So, everyone.

* [[Apothecary Alligator]]: Mentioned in Book 1 in the description of the magician Arthur Underwood's study. Bart notes that this is a good indication that Underwood is distinctly second rate and trying to hide it; truly powerful magicians favor a sleek, modern look.

* [[Authority Equals Asskicking]]: Justified since the government consists of powerful magicians. Also see [[Klingon Promotion]] below.

* [[Badass Boast]]: Bartimaeus, constantly. For example: "I am Bartimaeus of Uruk! I am Sakhr al-Jinni, N'gorso the Mighty and the Serpent of Silver Plumes! I have rebuilt the walls of Uruk, Karnak and Prague. I have spoken with Solomon. I have run with the buffalo fathers of the plains. I have watched over Old Zimbabwe till the stones fell and the jackals fed on its people. I am Bartimaeus!" However, it's just as likely to be subverted when the subject either doesn't recognize him or is simply unimpressed.

* [[Come Out Come Out Wherever You Are]]: {{spoiler|Used by Ammet the marid to Bartimaeus in ''The Ring of Solomon''. Also used by Honorius on Kitty in ''The Golems Eye'' when they loot Gladstones tomb.}}

* [[Compensating for Something]]: Kitty accuses Bartimaeus of this in ''Ptolemy's Gate'' when he appears in the form of a hideous, roaring demon.

* [[Crystal Ball]]: One method of scrying; bowls and discs are also common.

* [[Curb Stomp Battle]]: {{spoiler|Faquarl vs. four djinn sent to capture him. (More precisely, they were sent to capture the person whose body he was residing in, and so didn't really see that coming.)}}

* [[Dem Bones]]: Honorius, the mad afrit, was charged to guard Gladstone's tomb and did so by encasing himself in Gladstone's skeleton.

* [[Demonic Possession]]: Honorius in the second book possesses the bones of Gladstone; in addition, {{spoiler|hundreds of demons possess the British parliament in Nouda and Faquarl's rebellion - Nathaniel and Bartimaeus are forced to do the same in order to stop them.}}

* [[Disney Villain Death]]: {{spoiler|Duvall. After he is arrested, he tries to escape by turning into a werewolf and killing his guards, then jumping out the window. Unfortunately for him, they were five floors up.}}

* [[The Dog Was the Mastermind]]: {{spoiler|Quentin Makepeace, who resembles a foppish playwright in the prime minister's company.}}

** Another great example in Solomon's Ring: {{spoiler|At the end, Bartimaeus is ordered to drop the Ring in the ocean. When he returns (after a chase and battle), he reveals that he still has the Ring. How? Asmira didn't say he had to ''leave'' it in the ocean.}}

* [[Expository Hairstyle Change]]: Nathaniel's haircut between books two and three underscores the changes in his personality.

* [[Face Heel Turn]]: Going into government leads to this, invariably.

* [[Failure Knight]]: We learn in book three that {{spoiler|Bartimaeus}} feels this way about {{spoiler|Ptolemy}}.

* [[Faking the Dead]]: {{spoiler|Kitty at the end of Book 2.}}

* [[Femme Fatale]]: Jane Farrar, though she's not as good as she likes to think.

* [[Footnote Fever]]: Bartimaeus's sections are littered with it.

* [[Functional Magic]]

* [[Heel Face Turn]]: {{spoiler|Nathaniel and the junior magicians at the end of the third book.}}

* [[Heel Realization]]: Nathaniel in the third book.

* [[Hoist By His Own Petard]]: {{spoiler|Simon Lovelace is devoured by the very being he summoned to destroy all his opposition in the government}}.

* [[Humans Are Bastards]]: Bartimaeus certainly thinks so, while Nathaniel thinks djinn are [[Always Chaotic Evil]]. The ultimate conclusion seems to be that neither species is inherently better or worse.

* [[No Holds Barred Beatdown]]: What usually happens to Bartimaeus when he goes up against a demon out of his weight class, such as a marid, in a straight fight. An example is found at the beginning of ''The Golem's Eye'', when he goes up against Honorious and is soundly thrashed for his trouble.

* [[The Nondescript]]: Mr. Hopkins.

* [[Noodle Incident]]: The "messy episode of the Anarchist and the Oyster."

* [[Not Quite Dead]]: {{spoiler|Honorius, among others}}.

* [[Not Wearing Pants]]

* [[Obstructive Bureaucrat]]: All of the magicians, to a certain degree.

* [[Our Demons Are Different]]: See below.

* [[Our Genies Are Different]]: They're demons.

* [[Shapeshifter Default Form]]: Bartimaeus has a plethora of guises at hand, but in the trilogy he is known to be most comfortable in the appearance of Ptolemy. Faquarl similarly defaults to the appearance of a pudgy chef with a meat cleaver.

* [[Sharing a Body]]: {{spoiler|Bartimaeus and Nathaniel in Book 3.}}

* [[Shoo the Dog]]: {{spoiler|Ptolemy and Nathaniel to Bartimaeus; Bartimaeus and Nathaniel to Kitty}}.

* [[Slave to PR]]: Nathaniel in the later books, once he enters politics - note that this does not necessarily make him more ethical, just more underhanded.

* [[Smug Snake]]: Lovelace. Nathaniel himself in the second book. And Julius Tallow. And {{spoiler|Duvall, seeing as Makepeace played him like a fiddle.}} And {{spoiler|seeing as how Faquarl played ''him'' like a fiddle, Quentin Makepeace probably counts.}} Hell, just about ''every'' magician counts.

* [[Weaksauce Weakness]]: Spirits and silver/iron - but somewhat [[Justified Trope|justified]] in that they are alien to earth and ''everything'' connected to it causes them discomfort (like we get from fire because we are alien to it). It's part of traditional folklore that silver and iron weapons are effective against supernatural beings.

* [[We Are As Mayflies]]: Bartimaeus claims to avoid becoming attached to his human masters because he knows he will inevitably outlive them.

* [[Whitehall]]: An alternate universe version.

* [[Wide Eyed Idealist]]: Nathaniel - he gets over it. [[He Who Fights Monsters|Almost too far over it]] at least for a while. More purely, Ptolemy and Kitty.

* [[Would Hit a Girl]]: Played with. In the opening of ''The Ring of Solomon'', the magician Ezekiel grows annoyed with Bartimaeus's cheek and threatens to pummel him with a punishment called the "Essence Fist." "You'd hit a woman?" asks Bartimaeus, who is wearing a sultry female guise at the moment.