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12th Feb '13 9:04:43 AM StFan

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[[quoteright:240:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_Secret_of_Kells_9036.jpg]]

->''"I have lived through many ages,\\
Through the eyes of salmon, deer, and wolf.\\
I have seen the Northmen invading Ireland,\\
Destroying all in search of gold.\\
I have seen suffering in the darkness,\\
Yet I have seen beauty thrive in the most fragile of places.\\
I have seen the book;\\
The book that turned darkness into light..."''
-->--'''Aisling'''

An Irish/Belgian/French co-production directed by Tomm Moore at Cartoon Saloon, the studio behind SkunkFu.

A fictionalized version of the history of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Kells the Book of Kells]], the story focuses on Brendan, a young monk wanting to join his fellow monks in working on illuminating texts. But with the rising threat of [[HornyVikings Viking invasion]], his uncle, Abbot Cellach, is far more focused on fortifying the Abbey for the [[AStormIsComing inevitable attack]].

The arrival of Brother Aidan, a master illuminator from Iona, allows Brendan to finally have a teacher and gives him an opportunity to leave the Abbey's wall when he is asked to get materials for ink. Brother Aidan has [[HellFollowsWithMe fled the Viking onslaught]] and is the keeper of the [[IAmDyingPleaseTakeMyMacguffin legendary book of Iona]] — the greatest work of illustration yet produced in Northern Europe, soon to be the Book of [[GeniusBonus Kells]]. Befriending an [[TheFairFolk enigmatic fairy]] named [[MeaningfulName Aisling]] in [[GhibliHills the forest]] and taking a part in assisting Aidan with the Chi Rho page, things go well for him until he encounters the evil Celtic god Crom Cruach, and the Viking threat continues to slowly move closer to the Abbey...

Praised for its gorgeous visuals and music (it even got a standing ovation from the staff at {{Pixar}}), it managed to surprise everyone and get a Best Animated Feature nomination at the Oscars in 2010.

The film is now up on [[http://www.hulu.com/watch/337397/the-secret-of-kells Hulu,]] meaning Americans can watch this gem for free.
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!! ''The Secret of Kells'' contains examples of:
* AllThatGlitters: The Book of Kells, especially for the Norse. Possibly the film's {{Aesop}}.
* AllThereInTheManual: Brendan and Aisling's backstories are revealed in the graphic novel adaptations of the film, written and drawn by Tomm Moore. The two stories are included as an insert with the Blu-Ray edition of the film.
* AmbiguousGender: Pangur Bán. Though the novelization refers to the cat as being female, and if one listens carefully Aidan refers to it as 'her' near the beginning.
** GenderFlip: In the Irish poem ''Pangur Bán'', the cat is male.
* [[TheGrimReaper Angel Of Death]]: Abbot mistakes [[spoiler:the adult Brendan]] for this.
* AnnoyingArrows: Averted. A single arrow to the shoulder is enough to grievously injure [[spoiler:Abbot Cellach]] but he manages to get back up and continue through sheer force of will.
* AnticlimaxBoss: [[spoiler:Crom Cruach. Despite being an ancient Celtic god who destroyed Aisling's entire family (and possibly species), it gets about a minute of screen time and is promptly defeated by ''a piece of chalk''.]]
* ArbitrarySkepticism: When Aisling first tells Brendan of Crom Cruach, he dismisses it as "pagan nonsense". The irony that lies in saying that to a fairy completely escapes him.
** FridgeLogic: However, Aisling and her people are still mortal and it could be justified that they could exist alongside demons and angels. Crom Cruach is an anicient and evil Celtic ''god'', which would draw doubt. 
* ArrowsOnFire: The Vikings are fond of these.
* ArtInitiatesLife: [[spoiler:How Brendan beats Crom Cruach.]]
* ArtShift: The monks' stories and Brendan's slate sketches. The art shift during the stories that talk about Colum-Cille, or Saint Columba, doubles as a GeniusBonus because it imitates the style of manuscripts being produced at Colum-Cille's time; a style categorized as the early insular gospels, and designed for the ease in Pagan conversion by presenting Christian aspects in a comprehensible comic-book-like format. ShownTheirWork indeed.
** During a dramatic action scene when the Norsemen attack, the art suddenly gains perspective.
* TheBeastmaster: One of Aisling's abilities; she controls the local wolf pack, and uses them to defend her forest [[spoiler: and her friends, like when Brendan and Aidan are nearly killed by a pair of Vikings]].
* BeneathTheEarth: The mound of Crom Cruach.
* BigBadassWolf: Aisling leads a pack of them, though initially they come across as [[EverythingsWorseWithWolves everything being worse with wolves]] when they attack Brendan on his first journey into the forest. They later become more badass when [[spoiler: Aisling rallies them against the Vikings who ambush Brendan and Aidan after they flee from the massacre at Kells.]]
* BigDamnHeroes: [[spoiler:Aisling's wolf pack saving Brendan and Aidan from the vikings.]]
* BigOlEyebrows: Aisling. All the characters have big eyebrows, but Aisling's are the most prominent, not to mention they aren't even the same colour as [[WhiteHairedPrettyGirl her hair]]. [[WordOfGod Tomm Moore]] has stated that he partially based Aisling on his sister when she was young, and she also had prominent eyebrows.
* BilingualBonus: The book page Brenden and Aisling are climbing on in one of the montages reads "And so the little red-haired monk excelled at illumination but stayed mediocre in Latin"
* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Aisling seemingly gives up her humanoid form helping Brendan into Crom Cruach's cave, the Vikings ravage Kells and kill most of the inhabitants, but Brendan and Aidan escape and finish the book. Aidan eventually passes and Brendan himself eventually returns to Kells, guided by wolf Aisling (who briefly flashes to her fey form) and raises the spirits of his broken spirited and aged uncle in the end by letting him look at the finished product he thought destroyed.]]
* BlackIrish: One of the monks is from North Africa. His design... raised the hackles of a few reviewers unfamiliar with the Celtic art style.
* BlackSpeech: What the Northmen speak. Though sometimes they say a word that sounds a lot like "gold", since that's what they're after.
* BodyToJewel
* BreakTheHaughty: Abbot Cellach.
* BunnyEarsLawyer: Aidan.
* [[CallToAdventure Call To Illumination]]
* CatsAreMagic: In a sense; since Aisling is apparently unable to free Brendan from his room in the tower, she turns Pangur Ban into a spirit so she can free him from the inside. This hearkens back to the Celtic belief that cats were capable of going to otherwordly realms that others couldn't enter.
* CatsAreSnarkers: Pangur Ban can't speak, but [[SilentSnarker her expressions]] more than make up for that.
* CelticMythology
* ChekhovsGun: Green ink. [[spoiler:Specifically, the [[SmokeOut smoke side-effect]] caused by it.]]
* CoolTeacher: Brother Aidan.
* CuteKitten:Pangur Ban
* CuteLittleFangs: If you look very closely in one scene, you can see that Aisling has them. They're [[FangsAreEvil made more obvious]] in an earlier scene when she tries to intimidate Brendan into leaving her forest. It's a very quick scene, but if you pause at just the right second here, [[NightmareFace her face is pretty scary]].
* DesignStudentsOrgasm: In a family-friendly sense.
* TheDeterminator: Although Abbot Cellach [[spoiler:is shot with a flaming arrow, struck down and ran through with a sword, and left for dead on an Irish winter's night, he simply refuses to die and, after being retrieved, goes on to live for around two decades.]]
* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: Brendan [[spoiler: manages to defeat Crom Cruach]]. Keep in mind, this is a monstrosity that has [[spoiler: killed off most of Aisling's people]], a race of very powerful, very well-armed warriors. And he does it [[spoiler: with chalk]].
* DisneyAcidSequence: The Book of Kells itself.
* DistantFinale
* DoingItForTheArt: As most reviews have noted, it's only fitting that a film about the sublime glory of art is so impossiblybeautiful -- to the point where the lavish (and [[ShownTheirWork appropriately styled]]) animation is the main draw of the movie.
* EasterEgg: When Aidan is throwing things around while looking for the Eye, a couple sheets of animation paper go fluttering through the air.
* EasyEvangelism: Completly averted; [[spoiler: at one point a viking warrior gets to have a look at the Book of Kells (which is, you know, a [[Literature/TheBible Bible]]), only to rip out all of the pages and throw the book away a few seconds later, clearly unimpressed.]]
** Also averted with Aisling. Despite knowing how important the Book is to Brendan, she never converts. This is probably because pre-Christian Celtic demi-deities don't really care for Christianity. Like the filmmakers, she seems to be DoingItForTheArt.
* EccentricMentor: Aidan, and presumably Aidan's old mentor from what we hear of him.
* EldritchAbomination: Crom Cruach can be considered one.
* EvilUncle: The Abbot (aside from [[CaptainObvious the Vikings]]) seems to be an antagonist at first, and [[http://img52.imageshack.us/img52/9605/abbottcopy.jpg early concept art]] definitely depicts him as more typically "evil"-looking. Ultimately subverted, though, since despite being extremely strict he does genuinely care about Brendan.
* {{Eyedscreen}}: The sudden focus on Brendan's eyes when he first enters the forest. Also used on the last refugee to arrive before the Viking invasion.
* TheFairFolk: Aisling, who is friendly for the most part, but will not hesitate to sic her wolves on people who trespass in her forest. WordOfGod says she's one of the Tuatha De Danann, a [[OurElvesAreBetter powerful divine race in Irish mythology]].
* FantasyForbiddingFather: Abbot Cellach to his nephew Brendan, forbidding he do most anything not wall-building related.
* FiveTokenBand: Of Irish Catholic monks. Think about that a moment. An Irish monk, an Italian monk, a Chinese monk, an African (Moor) monk, and an English monk, who was originally supposed to be Afghanistani. (There's also a monk with a German accent, a gloomy Slav, and a French monk (albeit without any lines in the final version).) It isn't explained how they all got there ("there" being a 9th century Irish monastery) but according to WordOfGod they represent the different artistic influences in the book. This counts as a GeniusBonus if you believe the hypothesis of ''How The Irish Saved Civilization''. It's possible that Irish monasteries were essentially an ark for refugees across the Roman empire.
* FlatEarthAtheist: Brendan initially dismisses Crom Cruach as a story to scare children and says that Abbot Cellach told him never to worry about pagan fairytales. He tells all this to a ''fairy'' he just met.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: Brendan breaking through the scaffolding while chasing the goose.
* [[AmericanKirbyIsBadass French Brendan is Badass]]: The poster art seen above is... a little misleading.
* FunnyBackgroundEvent: While Aidan and Brendan talk about important things, Pangur Ban slowly slides through Aidan's arms, her expression becoming more indignant by the second.
* GoodIsNotNice: Abbot Cellach.
* GoodScarsEvilScars: The comic book [[https://comics.comixology.com/#/issue/4523/The-Secret-of-Kells-Prequel-1 prequel]] reveals the Abbot's scar came from [[spoiler:a Viking's sword while rescuing Brendan as a toddler]]
* GoryDiscretionShot: The stabbings of [[spoiler:the dock worker]] and [[spoiler:Abbot Cellach]] happen off-camera.
** It's also heavily implied but not explicitly shown that [[spoiler:the monks and villagers holed up in the church instead of the tower]] don't survive the attack.
* GreenThumb: Aisling. Notably, she seems to be able to make small white flowers grow out of solid rock.
* HardWorkMontage: Brendan's training, interspersed with the Abbot's work on the wall.
* HarpoDoesSomethingFunny: Sort of, the directors commentary states that Christen Mooney (the voice of Aisling) was told to sing Pangur Bán's song however she wanted. She decided the pitch, speed etc of each verse.
* HellFollowsWithMe: Aidan's journey to Kells is all about this.
* {{Herald}}: Aidan is an ActionSurvivor; see below.
* HeyItsThatVoice: The Abbot of Kells is [[HarryPotter Mad-Eye Moody]]!
** Aidan has had an encounter with the legendary beings of Irish folklore previously in the beloved ''Secret of Roan Inish''.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: [[spoiler:Unintended on Brendan's part, but after trapping Crom Cruach in a chalk prison, the monstrous abomination, unable to lash out at anything else proceeds to consume itself.]]
* HornyVikings
* HypocriticalHumor: "You can't learn everything from books." "I think I read that somewhere."
* IAmDyingPleaseTakeMyMacguffin: [[spoiler:Aidan's reputation is as "the perfect illuminator," and Brendan calls his book the work of angels. But his eyesight's going and his hands are too unsteady to finish the book, hence enlisting Brendan's help.]]
* ImplacableMan: The Vikings. Every shot we see them in is basically them slowly moving. We never see them run at all, or even show any sort of fear, [[spoiler:except for the two that are killed by Aisling's wolves.]]
* KarmaHoudini: The Vikings, [[spoiler:with the exception of the two killed by Aisling's wolves]].
* LargeAndInCharge: The abbot dwarfs everyone else living in Kells.
* LastOfHisKind: [[spoiler:Aisling may very well be this for TheFairFolk.]]
* MagicFeather: The Eye of Crom is a jewel capable of magnifying illustrations. It can only be used by someone who already has a natural talent.
* MismatchedEyes: Pangur Bán, Aidan's cat. Mismatched eyes and long white fur (as well as extreme loyalty and affection and above-average intelligence) are a common trait of the Turkish Angora, a popular cat breed in Europe at the time. Mismatched eyes are also often a sign of mystical significance.
* {{Motifs}}: Celtic knots are visible everywhere. Every snowflake, for starters.
** Circles and spirals are also very frequent there. Spirals apparently represent nature while circles are related to civilization, religion and art. Incidentally, the Book of Kells contains heaps of both.
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Cellach. [[spoiler: As the sacking of Kells begins, it begins to get through to the Abbot that, despite all his preparation, things aren't going to work out. And what follows is a massive slaughter that basically makes the rest of his life one really prolonged version of this trope.]]
* MysteriousMist: When the fairy Aisling makes her first appearance, the forest fills with mist. This is a nod to the notion of IrishMythology that the Tuatha Dé Danann concealed themselves in a magic mist (the "fairy mist") from observers. The mist dissipates as Aisling becomes more friendly towards Brendan.
* MysticalWaif: Aisling, though she's more assertive than most mystical waifs.
* NatureSpirit: Aisling.
* NeverSayDie: [[spoiler:Aidan's footsteps are washed away in the sand next to Brendan's and Pangur's footsteps]]. Though averted when Aidan states that he would have been killed had he not fled Iona, and again when Aisling tells Brendan that he will die if he confronts Crom Cruach; all of the ''actual'' deaths are implicit.
* NonHumanSidekick: Pangur Bán, who seems to be intelligent enough to go get help when it's needed. Not to mention [[FairyCompanion Aisling]].
* TheObiWan: Brother Aidan.
* OminousFog
* OminousLatinChanting
* ParentalAbandonment: Brendan's parents were [[AllThereInTheManual killed by Vikings]] when he was a baby; Aisling's [[spoiler: mother]] was killed by Crom Cruach, [[spoiler: along with the rest of her people]].
** MyParentsAreDead: A variant of this occurs when Brendan and Aisling first meet:
-->'''Brendan''': I don't have a family, and we have food in Kells, so I wouldn't have come here for it anyway. I was just...a bit lost.
-->'''Aisling''': You have no family?
-->'''Brendan''': Uh...no.
-->'''Aisling''': No mother?
-->'''Brendan''': [looks down, not saying anything]
-->'''Aisling''': ...I'm alone too.
* PeopleOfHairColor: All the native Irish whose hair hasn't turned white.
* PintsizedPowerhouse: Aisling is shown to be quite strong for her small size, considering how she pulls Brendan up like it's nothing when he's dangling from a tree branch and when she lifts a statue much larger than herself to help Brendan get inside Crom Cruach's cave.
* RapunzelHair: Aisling.
* RavensAndCrows: Heralds of the Norsemen. [[FridgeBrilliance And, by the way, associated with the goddess of war in Irish folklore and the Norse god of death and battle.]]
* ReallySevenHundredYearsOld: Aisling is implied to be much older than she looks, and if her opening narration and [[spoiler:her brief reappearance in her Fey form near the end of the film]] are anything to go by, she may not even age. Unsurprising, since she's one of TheFairFolk.
* RedHeadedHero: Brendan.
* ReptilesAreAbhorrent: Crom Cruach is a giant serpent, though his appearance owes more to deep-sea fish. [[spoiler:And it's made of jointed ''drawings''. Brendan uses this to his advantage.]]
* RoomFullOfCrazy: Abbot Cellach's room is painted with the plans for the town wall as well as a map of Kells on the floor. It's all sketched out with chalk in medieval non-perspective, to suggest the Abbot's obsessive devotion to completing the wall. A little different from usual in that he's sane -- to a fault.
* RunningOnAllFours: Aisling can run on all fours, probably to show her connection to nature and how wild she is.
* ScaledUp: Crom Cruach should not have turned into a snake. It never helps.
* SceneryPorn
* SeasonalMontage: At the end of the film.
* TheShadowKnows: When Pangur Ban is in spirit-form, she still has the shadow of a cat.
* SilentSnarker: Some of Pangur Ban's expressions are ''priceless''.
* SnowMeansDeath: [[spoiler:The attack on Kells.]]
* SpeaksFluentAnimal: Being so closely connected to nature, Aisling is implied to be able to do this, especially when she tells Brendan that she asked some wasps not to sting him when they find the oak galls.
* AStormIsComing
* SwordOfPlotAdvancement: The Eye of Crom Cruach.
* TakeOurWordForIt: Subverted. They avoid showing the contents of the book for most of the film, only to show [[spoiler:the completed Chi Rho page]] at the end.
* TimeCompressionMontage: The scene showing Brendan's education in art. 
** On a side note, the film takes place over the course of a year (shown by the change in seasons)
* TooDumbToLive: Brendan decides to investigate Crom's hideout despite the continued insistence of Aisling that he stay away.
* [[BilingualBonus Trilingual Bonus]]: Aisling's song in Irish and the page of Latin Brendan and Aisling are shown running across.
** The first Latin sentence reads: "And so the little red-haired monk excelled at illumination but stayed mediocre in Latin."
* UncattyResemblance: The sheepherder. "Baaaaa!"
* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory: Scholars put the creation of the book around the year 800, which means Colmcille (d. 597) can't have had a hand in it, and the historical [[http://www.bedesworld.co.uk/aidan.htm St. Aidan]] lived over 150 years earlier. Also, the cover wasn't stolen for another 200 years or so. There's not much we know for sure about the creation of the book (it might have been produced entirely at Iona or Kells, or some combination, or even Lindisfarne), so they had to take some liberties in order for there to be any plot.
** [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] when the monks at Kells can't agree on the history, either, including Colmcille's methods (third eye? three hands? 36 FINGERS?!), and simply get their facts wrong. One monk says the book was begun 300 years ago by Colmcille; impossible if Aidan knew him.
** And Pangur Bán was owned by an anonymous Irish monk in a ''German'' monastary.
* VoluntaryShapeshifting: Aisling is a fey that takes on the form of a white wolf at will, and she's shown to have also taken on the forms of a salmon and a deer in the past. [[spoiler: Unfortunately, she seems to suffer ShapeshifterModeLock after nearly giving her life to get Brendan into Crom Cruach's lair. [[FridgeBrilliance Then again]], as the local wolf pack already accepts her as their leader, [[TrueCompanions she's finally got a family again]].]]
** MorphicResonance: Whenever Aisling is in a different form, she always retains her white hair colour and her green eyes.
* WallCrawl: Aisling can do this through magic.
* WellIntentionedExtremist: Abbot Cellach is a mild example. He acts like a total JerkAss who is obsessed with building his wall, to the point where he disdains and eventually forbids his monks from doing anything else. However, the point of the wall is to keep out the Vikings, who already killed all the family he had except for his young, impressionable nephew, who now wants to do non-wall related things like go outside and create beautiful holy books. [[spoiler:He doesn't listen when Aidan tells him that his wall won't hold and they should all flee instead, which leads to disaster, and his HeelRealisation.]]
* WhatCouldHaveBeen: The directors commentary mentions that the original draft had Brendan and Aisling as LoveInterests. They obviously decided that the brother/sister relationship worked better.
* WhiteHairedPrettyGirl: Aisling. [[spoiler:In the second comic prologue, it's revealed to be a racial trait of TheFairFolk.]]
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