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The Saga of Darren Shan: Difference between revisions
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''The Saga of Darren Shan'' is a 12-part Fantasy Horror series by Irish author... Darren Shan (his real surname is ''O' Shaughnessy'', but [[Pen Name|that's not quite as marketable]]). It's very popular across the world and was made into [[Film of the Book|a movie]]. There is also
The Saga follows a perfectly normal Teenager in a [[No Name Given|perfectly normal town]] who after an unfortunate chain of events winds up ''[[Faking the Dead|faking his own death]]'' and living his life as a half-vampire [[The Apprentice (trope)||assistant]] to the vampire Mr. Crepsley. [[Hilarity Ensues|Hilarity]] and [[Nightmare Fuel
The books in the Saga are:
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There is currently one movie, ''Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant'', which combines the first three books. It has many spoilers for later books put in and a rushed feeling - [[Compressed Adaptation|dropping a lot of minor plots in favor of plots that weren't in the book and speeding through everything]].
The Author also wrote a second series, ''[[The Demonata]]'', which could be considered a [[Spiritual Successor]] of sorts.
The Saga also has a prequel series that started in 2010, concerning the life of Mr. Crepsely.
The ''[[City Trilogy]]'' is his first -and so far only- [[Out of Character|adult]] [[Your Mileage May Vary|series]]
{{tropelist}}
* [[Absurdly Spacious Sewer]]: The sewers in the city Mr Crepsley grew up in are very large, spacious and labyrnthine. They are seen in Tunnels in Blood (where they are the eponymous Tunnels) and in a later book {{spoiler|where Steve Leopard, the Fake Vampaneze Lord and Mr Crepsley fight in a large arena built by Steve located entirely in the sewer. This is lampshaded in that book as being because Steve likes things to be a spectacle.}}
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* [[Arc Words]]: "Even in death, may you be triumphant!"
* [[Artifact Title]]: [[Market-Based Title|In America, the series is called 'Cirque du Freak' (the title of the first book)]]. This gets weird after Book 4 when the focus of the series shifts away from Cirque du Freak and onto the struggle between the Vampires and the Vampaneze. Ultimately, only about half of the books in the series prominently feature the Cirque.
* [[Ascend to
* [[Awesome McCoolname]]: Almost ''everyone''. Particularly a few: Larten Crepsley, Paris Skyle, Arra Sails, Debbie Hemlock.
* [[Awesome Moment of Crowning]]: {{spoiler|Darren hauled as Vampire Prince.}}
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* [[Because Destiny Says So]]: Literally. {{spoiler|Des Tiny is the omnipotent demon man who caused the series to happen. See Xanatos Roulette below.}}
* [[Big Bad]]: Desmond Tiny for the series as a whole.
* [[Bittersweet Ending]]: The last book ends with {{spoiler|Darren dying, then being [[Back
* [[Blade Lock]]: Subverted in ''Hunters of the Dusk''. Darren gets in a sword fight with a [[Our Vampires Are Different|vampaneze]] and tries blade locking. The vampaneze simply runs his blade down the length of Darren's and maims his hand.
* [[Break the Cutie]]: Darren. And he's broken indeed...
** Illustrated with the writing style. Remember the way Cirque du Freak was written? Lots of exclamation marks, quite often after a one word sentence, almost like a very skilled child had written it. [[Fridge Brilliance|Well, all that disappears right after that one book...]]
* [[Chekhov's Gunman]]: Played epically.{{spoiler|Darren meets a seemingly irrelevant mook in the first book. By the last book, it reveals it was actually Darren from the future who had been turned into a [[Body Horror|small zombie creature]] and sent back in time to [[Time Paradox|stop the whole series from existing.]]}}
* [[Circus of Fear]]: Subverted.
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* [[Dhampyr]]: Sort of. Darren is originally made a Dhampyr due to his young age.
* [[Downer Ending]]
* [[Divide
* [[Eats Babies]]: It is implied that Mr. Tiny likes to eat children.
* [[Even Evil Has Standards]]: {{spoiler|R.V. is horrified when Steve kills a child, and eventually turns against him because of this.}}
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** The vampaneze code also [[Doesn't Like Guns|prevents them from using projectile weapons]]. The vampires have a less restrictive one which [[Doesn't Like Guns|just disallows guns and bows]] (shurikens are fine). Then the vampaneze start to raise an army of human soldiers who are exempt from their code (and can thus lie and use guns), to the outrage of the vampires.
* [[I Hate You, Vampire Dad]]: In the beginning, Darren feels this way about Mr. Crepsley, but eventually grows to like him.
* [[Jerk
* [[Kick the Dog]]: Mr. Crepsley making Darren fake his death and make him sit through his own grieving funeral and burial. But at least he did it to save his best friends life, right? Too bad, as said best friend thinks Darren did it to spite him and vows to kill him. [[Break the Cutie|Break the cutie indeed]].
* [[I Should Write a Book About This]]: The series ties into the real world at the end, when {{spoiler|vampire Darren sends his journals of his vampire adventures to his alternate-timeline fiction-author self, to be published as a fiction novel}}.
* [[Impaled
* [[Infant Immortality]]: {{spoiler|Averted: Steve kills eight-year-old Shancus Von}}.
* [[It Gets Easier]]: Darren mourns the first vampaneze he kills. Years later, he has no problem with one of his friends torturing a man to death to get information.
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* [[Meaningful Echo]]: In ''Trials of Death'', we see the Death's Touch(see [[Strange Salute]]). {{spoiler|When at the end of the book, after surviving 3 Trials and "failing" one, Darren discovers Kurda Smahlt's treachery, as Darren flees, he swears that he will bring vengeance upon Kurda. Broken and battered, down a roaring river, he does the Death's Touch at Kurda, and spitefully cries "Even in death, may I be triumphant!"}}
* [[Meaningful Name]]: Mr. '''Des'''mond '''Tiny'''.
* [[Mind Screw]]: The 12th book.
* [[Necessarily Evil]]: {{spoiler|Kurda Smahlt embraced this; he intended to betray the vampires to the vampaneze in a bid to avert all-out war.}}
* [[Never Learned to Read]]: Crepsley admits this in the beginning of Book 8.
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* [[The Only One Allowed to Defeat You]]: Literally. {{spoiler|If the Lord of the Vampaneze or his hunters are killed by someone who is not a member of the opposite party, the prophecy goes [[Off the Rails]] and everyone is doomed.}}
* [[Perpetual Frowner]]: Mr. Crepsley. {{spoiler|He only laughed once, when [[Crowning Moment of Funny|he found out about Gavner's elephant underpants]], and immediately felt sorry for it. But he often smirks.}}
* [[Pet the Dog]]: Mr Tiny shows a small capacity for love when he gives {{spoiler|his son, Mr Tall}} his [[Due to
* [[Proud Warrior Race Guy]]: Almost all vampires and vampaneze.
* [[Refused
** Then again it's understandable he didn't want to risk [[A Pupil of Mine Until He Turned to Evil]]. Esspecially since according to him Steve is [[Made of Evil]].
* [[Senseless Sacrifice]]: {{spoiler|Mr. Crepsley sacrifices himself to defeat what he considers to be the Lord of the Vampaneze, only for it to turn out to be an impostor.}}
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* [[Significant Anagram]]: {{spoiler|Harkat Mulds and Kurda Smahlt}} in book 10.
* [[Sliding Scale of Vampire Friendliness]]: Somewhere in the middle. The degree of viciousness or friendliness of a vampire is their choice rather than being forced.
* [[Strange Salute]]: In ''Trials of Death'' the vampires do a strange sign, placing their hand in front of their face with the middle finger on their forehead, with the index and ring fingers placed on the eyelids. This is called the Death's Touch, which is meant to mean "even in death, may you be triumphant. {{spoiler|Becomes a [[Meaningful Echo]] later in the book.}}
* [[The Spartan Way]]: Those who wish to become a Vampire General must take the Trials of Initiation, a series of five difficult, randomly-chosen tasks, each the day after the last (excepting holidays) where death is highly likely, and even survival without success results in execution. When Darren has to undergo the Trials to prove himself, he has to go through a flooding maze with a huge rock shackled to him, cross a cave filled with very sharp and brittle stalagmites and stalactites which drop at the slightest noise, spend 15 minutes in a metal chamber which randomly shoots spurts of flame, and fight two massive, rabid wild boars. They note that due to his youth and being only a half vampire, they actually removed the most difficult tasks from the roster.
* [[Trailers Always Lie]]: The trailers for [[The Movie]] imply that Crepsley just randomly asks Darren if he wants to be a vampire. "Dude, wanna be a vampire?" while in the actual movie Darren agrees to become one in exchange for saving Steve(part of the line survives, but it's part of a speech about the trials of being a vampire)
* [[Teacher-Student Romance]] Darren and Debbie. Subverted in that they're actually the same age, they even dated when [[Puppy Love|they were]] about twelve, Darren is simply [[Younger Than They Look|younger than he looks like]], and despite this Debbie refuses to get involved with him again, because she feels really bad about dating "a boy". However when she learns that Darren [[Plot-Relevant Age-Up|will grow up]] as a side-effect of the Purge she's more than happy to point out that will change her view on the issue. Altought by then she's not a teacher.
* [[Two-Part Trilogy]]: The twelve-book saga is divided into four trilogies, the latter two of which are [[Two-Part Trilogy|Two Part Trilogies]] in their own right (with "Hunters of the Dusk" establishing what has happened during the [[Time Skip]] and setting the premise for the next two books, and "The Lake of Souls" bridging the [[Grand Finale]] and the previous [[Wham! Episode]]).
* [[Unable to Cry]]: Darren for a long time after the death of {{spoiler|Mr. Crepsley}}.
* [[Ungrateful Bastard]]: Steve, in spades.
* [[Unreliable Narrator]]: In book 9, {{spoiler|an entire chapter is devoted to creating a deus ex machina to prevent the death of Mr. Crepsley. He then admits next chapter that this didn't actually happen}}.
* [[Vampire Monarch]]: The Vampire authority are the Princes, and to a lesser extent, the Generals.
* [[Vampire Vannabe]]: Steve. {{spoiler|When Mr. Crepsley [[Refused
* [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]]: {{spoiler|Kurda}}
* [[Wham! Episode]]: "Killers of the Dawn", "The Lake of Souls" and "Lord of the Shadows" could all qualify.
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Vampire Fiction]]
[[Category:Fantasy Literature]]
[[Category:Horror Literature]]
[[Category:
[[Category:Literature]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saga of Darren Shan, The}}
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