The Wolves of Willoughby Chase: Difference between revisions
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* [[Abusive Parents]]: Dido's parents are neglectful of her to the point of cruelty and her father in particular does not hesitate to imprison and endanger his daughter in the name of Hanovarian conspiracies. Much worse off though is another daughter, Is, who is used by her mother as a drudge and treated with nothing but casual violence and verbal abuse by her mother and father. It's never acknowledged outright by the pair that she is their child, probably since she is the product of an extramarital affair, a fact which might explain their disregard. An example of an abusive guardian is Miss. Slighcarp, to Bonnie and Sylvia in 'The Wolves Of Willoughby Chase, and to Dido and Dutiful Penitence in 'Nightbirds On Nantucket'.
* [[Action Girl]]: Oooh yes. Pretty much any adolescent female character, even if they start out meek, and most adult female characters as well. Of particular note is Dido Twite, hero of seven of the books, and her half-sister Is, who follows her lead.
* [[Adults Are Useless]]:
* [[Affectionate Parody]]: Aiken is harking back to
** In turn they are almost certainly one of the series that influenced [[A Series of Unfortunate Events]].
* [[Apathetic Citizens]]: Justified in that the
* [[Anachronism Stew]]: See the page quote.
* [[Author Existence Failure]]:
* [[Badass Bookworm]]: Owen in 'The Whispering Mountain'.
* [[Bittersweet Ending]]: On occasion, for example in 'Is Underground', {{spoiler|Is only succeeds in finding one of the missing boys she set out to alive, and her grandfather dies as well.}}
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* [[Chekhov MIA]]: In Black Hearts In Battersea, Simon is expecting to meet Dr. Field, who seems to have disappeared...
* [[Cinderella Circumstances]]: About once a book in some form. Whether its because of an [[Orphanage of Fear]] or an evil governess, or simply circumstance, expect the characters to be forced into dreadful hard work and poverty at some point in the plot.
* [[Competence Zone]]: Almost all the child or adolescent characters are sure to be quick-witted and ready to see through Hanovarian plots, with adults much less inclined to be much use. Some books even
* [[Consummate Liar]]: Dido's pretty circumspect, and is able to dissemble and lie without much trouble or guilt.
* [[Crapsack World]]:
* [[Cut Short]]: See [[Author Existence Failure]]
* [[Deserted Island]]: In 'Black Hearts In Battersea'
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* [[Evil Teacher]]: Miss. Slighcarp again - though of course she was never a real teacher.
* [[Have a Gay Old Time]]: The meanings of nineteenth-century slang has shifted somewhat. When the stories are in London, the characters frequently eat 'faggots', and when introduced Is is most frequently referred to as 'the Slut' meaning, in this case, drudge or maid-of-all-work.
* [[You Fail History Forever|Historical Artistic Licence]]▼
* [[Honor Before Reason]]: Is Twite seems to have a particularly acute sense of duty, traveling to the horribly dangerous town of Blastburn/Holdernesse because she promised a dying uncle she barely knew she would find a cousin she doesn't know either. This is commented upon by several characters.
* [[Idiosyncratic Episode Naming]]: For the First three books anyway
* [[Ironic Nursery Tune]]: The chapters of 'Is Underground' are headed with lines from nursery rhymes which
* [[Istanbul Not Constantinople]]
* [[Literary Allusion Title]]: It's possible Aiken was invoking [[Dido And Aeneas]] with the title 'Dido And Pa'.
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* [[Luke, I Am Your Father]]: Simon and Sophie {{spoiler|turn out to be the long-lost relatives of the Duke of Battersea, and Simon his heir}}
* [[Meaningful Name]]: A lot of Dickens-style naming: Slighcarp, Grimshaw etc. Bonnie is bonny. The surname Twite belongs to two characters (Dido and Is) often described in bird-like terms, and their father is a songwriter. Is's name connects her, in-universe, to a drowned town of the same name which becomes relevant by the climax of 'Is Underground'...
* [[Named After Somebody Famous]]: ...Meanwhile, Dido's [[Dido And Aeneas|namesake]] doesn't seem at all
* [[Never Was This Universe]]: The setting is more [[Alternate History]] than [[Alternate Universe]], but the occasional supernatural elements like telepathy and werewolves veer towards this trope.
* [[Orphan'
* [[Parental Abandonment]]: Either the protagonists are orphaned (Simon, Sylvia etc), believe themselves to be ( {{spoiler|Bonnie}} etc), have neglectful parents (Dido, Is etc), or their parents are removed from the action in some way (Dutiful Penitence).
* [[Precision F-Strike]]:
* [[Punny Name]]: In universe, Is. It's mentioned to be the name of a legendary drowned town (which becomes relevant to Is Twite come the end of her eponymous story). The villain of the same story also threatens to turn her from 'Is' into 'Was'.▼
* [[Raised by Wolves]]: In 'Black Hearts In Battersea', Sophie mentions having been raised by ''otters'' for a time.
* [[Reasonable Authority Figure]]: Good King Jim is an all round good egg; kind and down to earth.
▲* [[Punny Name]]: In universe, Is. It's mentioned to be the name of a legendary drowned town (which becomes relevant to Is Twite come the end of her eponymous story). The villain of the same story also threatens to turn her from 'Is' into 'Was'.
* [[Shown Their Work]]: She might play fast and loose with history, but Joan Aiken clearly knew her stuff regarding nineteenth-century England and even details you might assume are flights of fancy can turn out to be based on fact. An evident interest in nineteenth-century nursery rhymes and playground games on the part of the author often comes to the fore.
* [[Social Services Does Not Exist]]: no one's looking out for these urchins.
* [[Steampunk]]: sort of. There are enough anachronisms to the nineteenth-century settings to invoke this - see the page quote.
* [[Sweet Polly Oliver]]: Bonnie from 'Willoughby Chase', and later Dido occasionally fits this trope - the latter does not really actively disguise herself as a boy but since she wears her hair short and wears trousers instead of skirts, she is often mistaken for a boy, and notes that this sometimes comes in useful. Furthermore, Sophie often disguises herself as {{spoiler|her brother}} Simon once he is {{spoiler|the Duke of Battersea}} and there are conflicting demands on his time. In 'Limbo Lodge' (known in the US as 'Dangerous Games'), Dido
* [[What Happened to the Mouse?]]: the fact of shifting protagonists and a [[Loads and Loads of Characters|large cast]] means threads are often left open-ended. Before writing 'Nightbirds On Nantucket' Joan Aiken was inundated with letters from fans with this reaction regarding Dido Twite, who is last seen in 'Black Hearts In Battersea'clinging to driftwood in the middle of a stormy sea before disappearing and being presumed dead.
▲* [[You Fail History Forever|Historical Artistic Licence]]
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