Tortall Universe: Difference between revisions

* [[Dark Is Not Evil]] / [[Don't Fear the Reaper]]: One of the three main gods in Tortall is the Black God, who is in charge of death and judgment. He is said to be the kindest and most merciful of the three, and one of the main characters, [[Lawful Good]] Beka Cooper, actually works for him on occasion, and in ''Mastiff'' {{spoiler|the god himself calls her his most faithful priestess}}.

* [[Dawn Attack]]: [[Rebel Leader|Ulasim]] realizes that the war for [[Capital City|Rajmat]] "has begun ahead of schedule."

* [[Dead Guy, Junior]]: Multiple characters end up naming their children after deceased characters, not just limited to the royals. Among the more notable examples are Alanna's children Thom, Alianne and Alan, the latter two named after both her father and the name Alanna she went by during her [[Masquerade]].

** {{spoiler|Also Rikash and Sarralyn, Daine's children named after the Stormwing she befriended and her late mother}}

* [[Determinator]]: Kel has this going for her, and when one enemy is stupid enough to kidnap a group of people she'd been put in charge of and take them far away, they ''really'' have it coming to them. See [[Mama Bear]].

** Also Beka. It's where she gets her "Terrier" nickname.

* [[Did Not Do the Research]]: In the sport of jousting (tilting), multiple characters are impressed when an opponent's lance breaks or frustrated when their own breaks. This is usually considered a good thing, as it means you've struck your opponent's shield cleanly and hard. It stands out because every other element of the universe is so well done. In context it may have had more to do with how hitting someone cleanly and hard is only a good thing if you actually manage to get them out of the saddle by doing so, so if your lance breaks, you can't unhorse their opponent.

** In the Protector of the Small quartet Kel's favorite weapon is described a glaive and a naginata interchangeably. Despite being similar, these are distinct weapons. Might be [[Translation Covnention]] at work in-universe.

** {{spoiler|And Mithros is a dick. "Sorry Daine, never mind that you just singlehandedly saved us all from being devoured by the queen of [[Nightmare Fuel]] herself, but because you cause a mild ruckus wherever you go, you'll never be allowed to see your parents again in their realm, unless they beg us nicely."}}

** Conversed in ''Trickster's Queen'' by one of the darkings.

* [[Just Friends]]: Before their [[Relationship Upgrade]], the situation between Daine and Numair was slightly...complicated, although it didn't show as much on the surface.

* [[Kaleidoscope Eyes]]: Liam's eye color changes depending on his mood.

* [[Merlin and Nimue]]: Daine and Numair.

* [[Mighty Whitey]] - When Prince Jonathan becomes the Voice of the Poeple to the Bazhir Tribesmen and Alanna becomes a respected shaman to the Bloody Hawk Tribe.

* [[Mind Rape]]: The Chamber of the Ordeal, which must be faced by all would-be knights (and, as shown in ''Lioness Rampant'', the heir to the Tortallan throne in order to become King, though the presumptive King is lucky that he only has about fifteen minutes of it to a knight's presumably hours...), is essentially a big box of this.

* [[Modest Royalty]]: The Contes, to the point that Daine is shocked when she first meets Jonathan and Thayet since they don't look like her mental image of royalty.

** Everyone good is Nice To The Waiter, everyone bad is not. [[Broken Aesop|We keep being told]] by the huge cast of nobles who care about commoners that it's atypical in Tortall for nobles to care about commoners. The only borderline exception is Kel's friend Merric, who, while certainly not cruel or miserly, tells her and Neal at one point that they're too concerned and generous.

* [[The Nicknamer]]: Oh my god Daine. And she's not even creative about it.

** Let's not forget her nicknaming a dragon Big Blue.

** In fact it seems the vast majority of protagonists in both series have the curse of names longer than two syllables shortened. Kel for Keladry, [[Circle of Magic|Sandry]] for Sandrilene...

** Taken [[Up to Eleven]] in ''Mastiff''. Beka describes often and at great length the many times her scent hound Achoo finds a spot where their quarry relieved himself on the road. And then of course we had Saucebox demonstrating his opinion of Pounce's high opinion of himself.

* [[Non Sequitur Thud]]: Not as random as some examples, but Kel is noticeably... ineloquent after three rounds of jousting with Lord Wyldon.

'''Wyldon:''' Go lie down, Mindelan. You're tilt-silly. }}

* [[No Ontological Inertia]]: Mage Marks in Terrier.

* [[Please Put Some Clothes On]]: In "Alanna: The First Adventure," when Alan (Alanna) and Jon are fighting the Ysandir, said evil magicians make her clothes disappear, revealing her naked girlyness. Jon ogles her for a moment before blushing and offering his tunic. Also been described as the "lolwutboobies" moment.

** After Daine shapeshifts back into a human after saving Numair from a [[Eldritch Abomination|Chaos-dweller]] in ''The Realms Of The Gods,'' she walks up to him - only to remember that she's naked except for her badger claw necklace. [[Hilarity Ensues|Awkwardness Ensues.]]

* [[Powered by a Forsaken Child]]: In ''Squire'' and ''Lady Knight'' mage-made monsters that are powered by the souls of murdered children start to appear. Admittedly, they are made for the enemy nation, but the mage who makes them is in hiding, or otherwise he would be torn apart by every mage in Tortall who is looking to end the war.

* [[Put on a Bus]]: Just about every Corus character in ''Mastiff.'' Justified in that most of the action takes place in other locations, but it's still a bit jarring when important characters like Goodwin, Rosto (who had major [[Ship Tease]] with Beka and was expected to be her endgame love interest), Eskren, and Kora and Aniki only have a sentence or two devoted to them.

* [[First Episode Spoiler|Second Book Spoiler]]: The identity of the [[Big Bad]]. All right, it's more of [[The Untwist]], but considering the first book ended with Alanna ''thinking'' he was the villain but being unable to prove it, while the very first POV we get from him in the second chapter of the next book makes it clear he ''is'' the villain...it kind of makes it hard to discuss the series without giving away too much. A secondary example, with the same villain, occurs after he comes [[Back From the Dead]]: much mileage is gotten out of playing up just what forbidden thing Thom did in book three, and whom he brought back...only to have the resurrectee's identity revealed by the cover blurb on book four. Sigh.

* [[She Cleans Up Nicely]]: Many female characters get at least one of these. Alanna's first one comes in ''In the Hand of the Goddess'', when she starts taking lessons from Mistress Cooper in feminine dress and behavior, and George and Jon see her in a dress. Lampshaded by Alanna after Jon starts coming onto her:

** Also in ''Lioness Rampant'', where her comrade/lover Liam, despite thinking she looks pretty, reacts snappishly and tells her basically that she can't be a warrior ''and'' a lady and she'd better straighten out her priorities. Later he apologizes.

** Beka faces a similar problem adjusting to a dress when she is forced to wear one in ''Bloodhound''. She hates the way men treat her all of a sudden, but manages to pull it off by constantly reminding herself that she's undercover.

** Alanna, the original heroine, tries to be this but she's just no good at the silk part.

** Inferred to be the case with the Yamani ladies. We don't get to see them in action, but after Neal interrupts a game of fan toss, Yuki tells him the following yamani proverb, right before she use the fan to slice up a wooden tent pole as if it were made of paper.

* [[Slave Collar]]: Carthaki/Copper Islands slaves.

** In the Cooper Isles at least, the collars will choke slaves who stray too far from their masters. Aly in ''Trickster's Choice'' convinces her owners to dispel that particular magic {{spoiler|because she is the chosen of a god, but not the god they think}}.

* [[Unfortunate Implications]]: This occurs [[In-Universe]] with female guards, seeing as guards are mostly referred to as Dogs (or Puppies when they're in training). In ''Bloodhound'', it is specifically mentioned that calling a guard a "bitch" is a good way to get a baton in the face.

** Ahuda does some badass reclaiming in ''Terrier'', though.

* [[Unstoppable Rage]]: Please don't piss Daine off. {{spoiler|Otherwise you'll be dealing with '''''skeleton zombie dinosaurs''''' crushing your palace.}}

** Perhaps less dramatically, if she is in the form of a giant bird, ''don't'' follow close behind her. Just... don't.