History GhostsOfThePast / TropesQToZ

* StandardFiftiesFather: Joe Danvers Senior, father of Carol, Stevie, and Joe Junior, is a [[AbusiveParents darker variant]] on the trope. While he earnestly believes that he's doing what's right and best for his children, he psychologically abuses them, trying to force them to be things that they aren't: in Carol's case, a traditionally feminine, more submissive girl, and in Stevie's, a rougher, tougher, jock type boy. In both cases, it leaves them with serious issues. Carol's are with self-esteem, latching onto [[ParentalSubstitute alternate father figures]] like her uncle Jack and her great-grandfather Steve, and developing a defensive spiky demeanour. Stevie, meanwhile, just retreated into himself. After his wife and mother-in-law find out that [[spoiler: Joe tried to get Harry to alter Carol's mind]], he is swiftly dealt with.

** Jack O'Neill, FourStarBadass and DeadpanSnarker supreme, keeps trying to be tough and go-getting... and keeps getting upstaged [[AmazinglyEmbarrassingParents by his mother.]]

** Harry deduces Hermione's true parentage (and later confirms it to Carol once she half-deduces it, half picks it up from his mind), but for now, at Wanda's request, he isn't telling her. [[spoiler: When she deduces the truth in chapter 66, and learns that Harry kept it from her, she is ''very'' upset]].

* SecretTestOfCharacter: [[spoiler: When Carol's muggle friends give Harry a IfYouEverDoAnythingToHurtHer speech, he tests their resolve to that by conjuring a psychic vision of him in full inhumanly-powerful form to give them a taste of what they'd be dealing with. He's impressed when they're scared but stayed committed.]]

* SelfServingMemory: Hermione develops a minor case after the Feather Incident, her internal monologue neatly eliding just how dangerous it could have been for Warren, or anyone else around her, disregarding Harry's justified concerns in favour of focusing on how he'd forcibly restrained her. Though, granted, this reflection only comes up after she has many other reasons to be mad at him.

* ShutUpHannibal: [[spoiler: Maddie]] breaks off Lukin's TheReasonYouSuckSpeech by simply telling him that perhaps everything he says is true, but "I am Worthy. And you are not."
** When Snape tries to taunt Harry about [[spoiler: his name being in the Goblet]] with his 'crossing lines' jibe, Harry snipes back at him. Snape, nerve touched, growls how Harry is just like his father, Harry tells him that yeah, obviously - but more and more, people are telling him that he resembles his mother. When Snape denies it... cue a PsychoticSmirk, and a suggestion that Snape didn't know her as well as he thought he did.

** It's all but stated that this a large part of why Carol loves Harry - he completely respects her and her boundaries, determinedly putting their friendship first. This is all but confirmed by her mother - [[HiddenDepths who happens to be a very sharp observer of people.]] It's also hinted that Harry is attracted to Carol because she's one of the few people his age who always treated him like a person without any preconceptions in years.

** Type I/II/III: Wanda's parenting of Hermione is distinctly YMMV InUniverse, but attitudes vary from 'you made a mistake', to Hermione's borderline of 'you ruined my life and I hate you' (unsurprising, given just how she found out), though her attitude moderates a little once she finds out why and more about Wanda. The narrative largely settles on 'she made mistakes but for understandable reasons and otherwise did the best she could'.

* StandardFiftiesFather: Joe Danvers Senior, father of Carol, Stevie, and Joe Junior, is a [[AbusiveParents darker variant]] on the trope. While he earnestly believes that he's doing what's right and best for them, he psychologically abuses them, trying to force them to be things that they aren't: in Carol's case, a traditionally feminine, more submissive girl, and in Stevie's, a rougher, tougher, jock type boy. In both cases, it leaves them with serious issues. Carol's are with self-esteem, latching onto [[ParentalSubstitute alternate father figures]] like her uncle Jack and her great-grandfather Steve, and developing a defensive spiky demeanour. Stevie, meanwhile, just retreated into himself. After his wife and mother-in-law find out that [[spoiler: he tried to get Harry to alter Carol's mind]], he is swiftly dealt with.

* VillainousBreakdown: When the Red Room is finally taken down, Lukin is noted as looking like he's ready to descend into "gibbering denial". Or at least, insofar as that is possible, since [[spoiler: the Dark Phoenix]] [[KickTheSonOfABitch melted his mouth shut.]]

** While they aren't dating [[spoiler: (yet)]] Carol's response to hearing about how Yelena Belova [[spoiler: molested]] Red Son!Harry is to say [[TranquilFury in an eerily calm voice]], "I am going to tear that [[PrecisionFStrike fucking]] bitch limb from limb." The only reason she doesn't immediately try to follow through is that because she's already suffering Dream's vengeance, which even ''Loki'' mid RoaringRampageOfRevenge thought he couldn't improve upon.
*** GenderFlipped in ''Bloody Hell'', when Harry goes to insane lengths to protect Carol, nearly getting his mind destroyed (once), and his body too (''three'' times: two rounds with Dracula, the second time a mere couple of hours after the first, in which he was pummelled, electrocuted, and ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice with his own sword, being nearly beaten to death in the second round, and ''then'' [[spoiler: donating enough blood to keep a partially drained Carol alive]]). All this while slaughtering his way through the Grey Court of Vampires, including [[spoiler: Dudley, ''his own - turned - cousin'']]. And this would all have been a mere prelude if she'd actually died, as his back-up plan in such a scenario would have been to [[spoiler: threaten the Council Elite of Skyfathers into resurrecting her, because if they didn't, he would, becoming the Dark Phoenix in the process]].

* ShipTease: Harry and Carol, pretty much every single time they're both on-screen and a few times when they aren't.

* ShownTheirWork: The author is a qualified Historian to Masters level with a very broad general knowledge base (though he admits that the sciences are a bit of a blind spot), a British private school education, an excellent memory and [[InsufferableGenius a compulsive need to show off.]] This was inevitable.

* SleepCute: After Harry gives Carol some late night psychic therapy, they fall asleep in her bed, where Natasha finds them the next morning.

** Type I/II/III: Wanda's parenting of Hermione is distinctly YMMV InUniverse, but attitudes vary from 'you made a mistake', to Hermione's borderline of 'you ruined my life and I hate you' (unsurprising, given just how she found out), though her attitude moderates a little once she finds out why and about Wanda. The narrative largely settles on 'she made mistakes but for understandable reasons and otherwise did the best she could'.

** Averts this on the relatively minor incident in ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire'', wherein Harry and Draco have a brief duel and Hermione is hit by the deflected curse, causing her front teeth to grow rapidly. WordOfGod discusses this at the end of the chapter, explaining that it doesn't take place because a) Draco isn't the same as in canon, b) no one else is stupid enough to try and fight Harry or hurt a close friend of his (who would laminate them to a wall in short order), c) this version of Harry's reaction to Snape's petty, nasty canon response of "I see no difference" when he saw Hermione's teeth would be... terminal.

** Steve takes one after the events of the World Cup, where he nearly lost Carol, and came to his senses somewhat about how she was family.

** The difference in experiences between this group and Harry's Hogwarts friends, specifically Carol and Hermione, is a cause of friction on several occasions, mostly thanks to Harry's absolute refusal to involve Ron and Hermione in his 'adventures', on the grounds that they're horribly traumatising experiences that even he barely survives and he wants to protect them and their relative innocence, claiming he wants to keep them as his 'normal friends'. Since neither Ron nor Hermione particularly enjoys Harry's brand of insanity, they'd be fine with it... if Harry a) confided in them without being forced practically at gunpoint, b) actually gave them a choice.

* WallGlower: Ron during the Yule Ball. Not only that, but it's worse than canon on the grounds that he doesn't have a date since Harry asked [[spoiler: Carol]], rather than Parvati, and therefore didn't ask Padma for Ron, and as canon, Ron didn't ask Hermione in time. He didn't even notice that Ron didn't have a date at all, since he was head over heels in love and consequently oblivious (which he later apologises for). The fact that he didn't tell Ron that [[spoiler: he arranged for Diana to come to the Ball, nominally as Draco's partner, practically as Ginny's, being a ShipperOnDeck]] does not help. Cue a very bad-tempered Ron sulking in the corner, though he's about to get up and pick a fight with someone - probably Hermione - when Sean Cassidy notices and cheerfully-yet-forcibly sits him back down again and has a sympathetic and pointed chat with him that a) cheers him up a bit, b) gets him to go and socialise a bit.

* SecretSecretKeeper: Alison has been one for Clark Kent, since before he even landed on Earth, having been asked by Jor-El, when he was scouting Earth to pick foster parents for his son, to help out if needed. Out of the other four people who knew about Clark, the two most heavily involved in the matter (Fury and Coulson) were unaware that she knew, let alone that she'd manipulated them into Clark's path on the grounds that they'd react positively and protectively towards a small child in need, until she told Coulson.

** Type I/II: Marie's parenting of Carol is presented as such, driven by natural fears, her own issues with her mother. However, it's also a case of ParentsAsPeople and she gets much better once she comes to terms with Carol's heroics (and decides that enough is enough where her husband is concerned).
** Type II: Alison, by her own sad admittance, was a much better spy than a mother, [[ParentalNeglect neglecting her children through her ambition]] until [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone she saw how Howard's treatment of Tony was affecting him]] and tried to do better - but she still pushed Marie away after Marie RefusedTheCall. She's far improved her relationship with her daughter, and is an excellent grandmother, but she has regrets.

* RealWomenDontWearDresses: Quietly but firmly Averted, with Pepper, Frigga, Alison, and Diana - later Carol, to an extent - all subverting the trope (in Carol's case, she mainly embraced it to reject her father's StayInTheKitchen tendencies).

* SoulCuttingBlade: Apparently, words can be used as one - although it appears exactly twice in all the series (one of which is pretty ambiguous), and either of them is something you only see happening [[RewatchBonus after knowing]] the later effects. It's unclear whether the ability to do this is virtually unknown in-universe, whether it simply requires insane amounts of power control, or whether it's a coincidence that both characters seen using it are certainly not short on either knowledge or skill. Messing around with someone's ''mind'', on the other hand, is quite common in the setting.
** [[spoiler: [[BadassPacifist Joshua]][[GodInHumanForm /Ye]][[DeityOfHumanOrigin ho]][[ItMakesSenseInContext shua]]]] uses soul cutting words as a [[MundaneUtility tool]] for mental trauma surgery. Since this is done by and helping along the words of rather more conventional counselling in a case of [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane maybe mundane utility, maybe mundane]]; it's only deduced later by [[InUniverse someone else]] [[FridgeLogic realising]] the patient is doing way better than they ought to be, and looking to find out why.
** In ''Unfinished Business'', [[spoiler: [[TheDreaded Doctor]] [[TimeMaster Strange]]]] rips into an opponent with a barrage of savage comments in a duel, made all the more terrible by his inability to lie - they are the complete truth. It's ambiguous whether the effect is purely psychological or deeper - certainly, he makes the receiving character [[NightmareFuel vomit up chunks of their soul]]. [[spoiler: This later comes back to bite him when said opponent uses some of the ready-made soul fragments for [[SoulJar their own]] magic.]]
-->Worse even than those, though, was the whispering in her ear, a voice that was always behind her, one that poured soft, cruel words into her heart in a tongue that only they understood, one that only a handful of mortals still spoke. The inexorable whispers, impossible to deafen, impossible to ignore, carried dreadful knowledge. They spoke of crimes and failures, of past mistakes and present incompetence, each phrase as artfully constructed as any spell, and far more deadly, slicing into the listener's soul. For those whispers were in the voice of Doctor Strange, and as all the world knew - the Doctor never lied.

* StrangerInAFamiliarLand: Harry when he returns to Hogwarts, after about six months away, thanks to HYDRA's attack on Hogwarts, and the ''brutal'' TraumaCongaLine of ''Forever Red''. These events and others mean that even after he recovers from [[ShellShockedVeteran a spectacular case of PTSD]], his mentality has entirely shifted, and he's impatient with both the (comparatively normal) childishness of his peers and the comparatively backwards and insular nature of the Wizarding World.

* StressVomit: Harry, as part of his HeroicBSOD[=/=]MyGodWhatHaveIDone moment in chapter 2, dry heaving even after there's nothing left.

* SufficientlyAnalyzedMagic: The basis of Asgardian civilisation, and, it is hinted, Atlantis too.

* SuperPoweredEvilSide: The Winter Soldier persona functions as this to Bucky - it doesn't strictly make him more powerful, but it does make him ruthlessly focused.
** [[spoiler: The Dark Phoenix, and later the Red Son]] sort of function as this to Harry, but they don't actually have personalities of their own - the former is an exaggeration of his own darker nature (but definitely super-charged), while the latter is more a persona with a more ruthless mentality.
* SupportingLeader: Steve, serving as the ''de facto'' leader of the forces of good - certainly, the one they all tend to turn to - while not being the main protagonist.

* SympatheticMagic: The speciality of both Harry Dresden and John Constantine. In the latter case, it's unexpected, as Constantine is Wanded and thaumaturgy is Wandless magic. It's also [[MirrorCharacter one of a number of similarities between the two]] that make Dresden very uneasy.

* TakeAThirdOption: In chapter 16, instead of simply hiding Harry away or preparing [[spoiler: for the attack of the Council Elite]], Thor's plan is... to grab Strange by the ankles and shake him until all the answers come out, because he'll have a plan, because he's had centuries to prepare and having plans is what Strange does. Hilariously enough, it actually works.

* ThreePointLanding: Thor's habit of doing this - often at extraordinary speed, resulting in large craters - continues from ''Child of the Storm''.
** Wanda lampshades that these are terrible on the knees in chapter 44 after watching Harry pull one off, though she shortly after does one herself to protect Hermione and the three youngest Weasley boys from the [[spoiler: Elder Wyrm's]] lava and rock creatures.

* TookALevelInCynic: Thor, especially when [[ManipulativeBastard Strange]] is around. The latter dryly congratulates him.

* TookALevelInJerkass: Harry, after the ''Forever Red'' arc. This, of course, is due to a fairly severe case of PTSD, but even considering that, he's considerably tetchier than before. It also doesn't help that he's not especially inclined to explain ''why'' he's in his current state, or what new things bother him, which means that a considerable portion of the Hogwarts student body lives in mortal fear of pressing his BerserkButton by accident - and even after he calms down somewhat, they're still justifiably wary, while Hermione somewhat bluntly points out that while he's generally considered to be decent, 'nice' went out the window a long time ago.

* TortureCellar: The Red Room have at least one, of the coldly scientific variety, in which they and [[spoiler: Sinister]] torture [[spoiler: Harry]]. MindRape is the option of choice, but not the only one, and it's described as bad enough that it makes [[spoiler: Maddie/Rachel]], someone with a conscience that could best be described as 'in development' at that point, instinctively want to tear it apart.

* ToThePain: When interrogating Sabertooth, Loki threatens to rip out his entire nervous system (except what's necessary to keep him alive) and play it like a harp to the accompaniment of Creed's agonised screams. And when even that isn't enough to get anything from him, Loki whispers something in his ear; whatever he says, it's enough to get Sabertooth singing like a canary.

* {{Transflormation}}: Ollivander notes that this is often the fate of incautious young wand-makers who try to bargain with TheFairFolk for access to the finest trees or to arcane woods.

** In ''Unfinished Business'', [[spoiler: Nimue]] reveals that this is one of her favourite hobbies. It is described as being utterly horrifying.

* TrueCompanions: The core group of Harry, Carol, Diana, Uhtred, and Jean-Paul developed into this as result of their previous experiences together in ''Child of the Storm''.

* UltimateJobSecurity: Fudge. The short version is that no one wants to deal with [[TheDreaded Peter Wisdom]], who considers mentally torturing Fudge to be one of his few pleasures in life and terrifies more or less the entire Wizarding establishment (which, considering [[TheUnfettered what the man is capable of]] and his semi-rational grudge against them is a pretty rational reaction).

* TheUnfettered: Peter Wisdom, who is pretty much Fury dialled up to eleven, and infinitely more ruthless. His sole drive is to protect his country, by any means possible and necessary. Morality comes a very, very distant second.

* ThreeAmigos: PlayedWith. The original example, the 'Golden Trio' of Harry, Ron, and Hermione, are slowly drifting apart: Harry's got a bad case of StrangerInAFamiliarLand (and a worse case of [[ShellShockedVeteran PTSD]]) following his [[TraumaCongaLine harrowing experience]] in ''Forever Red'', and has to deal with keeping secrets first from Ron (about Bucky being the Winter Soldier) and later, Hermione (about Wanda being her mother); Ron is fixated on getting {{revenge}} on HYDRA since (he believes) the Winter Soldier is dead and also resenting being LockedOutOfTheLoop both intentionally and unintentionally by Harry who is growing increasingly secretive; and Hermione is both upset (if less so) about being LockedOutOfTheLoop and Harry's secretiveness, while struggling to deal with her developing [[EntropyAndChaosMagic Chaos Magic]] (all of which explodes when she finds out the truth about her mother). However, they are still close and care for each other deeply, with their drifting apart being presented as more a matter of circumstances than something totally natural.

** Wanda does this to Selene, though unfortunately, it doesn't [[IncrediblyLamePun stick.]]

* WillTheyOrWontThey: Harry and Carol. While they settle on 'won't' for the time being, sticking with being JustFriends, it's very clear that that isn't even close to the end of it. Chapter 35 has them admit their feelings, for instance, but also acknowledge that neither of them is ready to date yet. [[spoiler: In chapter 46, they finally get a RelationshipUpgrade, sealing it with a kiss.]]

Tropes from ''Fanfic/ChildOfTheStorm'''s sequels (which are the two halves of one book), ''Ghosts of the Past'' and ''The Phoenix and the Serpent''.