History Literature / BooksOfPellinor

* NotSoDifferent: Maerad and Sharma, pointed out on separate occasions by Arkan, Cadvan, Ardina and Sharma himself. Both have power beyond human imagination. Both are on near-equal terms with the Elidhu. Both can be terrifying when provoked. However, Maerad's friends are quick to reassure her that her love for her friends, her joy in simple pleasures and her concern about holding on to her humanity are what makes her different.

%%* {{An Ice Person}}: Arkan, the Winterking.

* {{Badass Normal}}: Hekibel, who manages to keep up with Hem, Saliman, Cadvan and Maerad in their adventures in spite of having no Bardic powers whatsoever.
* {{Big Brother Instinct}}: [[spoiler: Maerad has a powerful sisterly instinct towards Hem, even before finding out who he is.]]
%%* {{Big Eater}}: Hem.
* {{Brought Down To Normal}}: [[spoiler: Maerad, partly; she loses her elemental powers from the Elidhu after she and Hem play the Treesong.]]
* [[CanNotTellALie Cannot Tell a Lie]]: It's impossible to lie in the Speech (if you are a Bard--people who learn the tongue the usual way have no trouble with it).
%%* {{Child Soldiers}}: In "The Crow".

%%* {{Combat Medic}}: Hem and Saliman.
%%* {{Cultured Warrior}}: Most Bards, especially Cadvan.

%%* {{Evil Tower of Ominousness}}: Where Sharma resides.
%%* {{Face Heel Turn}}: [[spoiler: Enkir.]]
%%* {{The Fair Folk}}: The Elidhu.

* {{Feminist Fantasy}}: The books don't talk explicitly about feminism, but they have their fair share of strong female characters.
* {{Food Porn}}: Justified, as Maerad and Hem have spent most of their lives half starved.

* {{Genius Loci}}: The Elidhu are the embodiments of the places they inhabit; for instance, the Landrost and his mountain or Nyanar and the Glandugir Hills.

%%* [[HardWorkHardlyWorks Hard Work, Hardly Works]]: Maerad.

%%* {{Jerk With A Heart Of Gold}}: Indik.

* {{Large Ham}}: Karim, the leader of the acting troupe Hekibel belongs to. He's also [[spoiler: {{The Mole}}.]]

* {{Mayfly December Romance}}: Any human (Bard or not) with an Elidhu, or a non-Bard with a Bard.

%%* MentorShip: Cadvan and Maerad.

* [[NoPeriodsPeriod No Periods, Period]]: Aversion: Maerad occasionally gets her period.

* {{Not So Different}}: Maerad and Sharma, pointed out on separate occasions by Arkan, Cadvan, Ardina and Sharma himself. Both have power beyond human imagination. Both are on near-equal terms with the Elidhu. Both can be terrifying when provoked. However, Maerad's friends are quick to reassure her that her love for her friends, her joy in simple pleasures and her concern about holding on to her humanity are what makes her different.

%%* {{The Plague}}: The White Sickness.

* {{Politically Incorrect Villain}}: [[spoiler: Enkir, a male chauvinist who refuses to let women study at Norloch. In a world of supposed equality, why did nobody stop him?]]

* {{Shoot the Shaggy Dog}}: In ''The Crow''. [[spoiler: Isn't it amazing what lengths Hem goes to to rescue Zelika? Isn't it clever how he tricks the Hulls so he can search for her without being discovered? Isn't it sweet how he decides he wants to marry her when he grows up? Well, too bad she was dead the whole time.]] Meant, of course, to deliver an {{Aesop}} about the cruelty of war—[[TearJerker and, damn, did it work]].

* {{Tell Me About My Father}}: Maerad and Hem are deeply interested in anything involving their parents' pasts.

* {{The Unfettered}}: Maerad, increasingly, towards the end of ''The Singing''. It frightens everyone, including her.

* {{We Can Rule Together}}: [[spoiler: Sharma to Maerad. She almost accepts, believing that her power could turn the world into paradise, but the memory of Cadvan, Hem and all her other friends snaps her rapidly back to her senses. Awesomeness ensues.]]
* {{What The Hell Hero}}: Maerad gets this from Cadvan to agonizing levels in "The Riddle" after [[spoiler: losing control of her powers and killing a Bard for accusing them of being Hulls.]]
* {{Who Wants To Live Forever}}: Ardina, whose immortality prevents her from ever seeing her deceased human lover again. Sharma and the Hulls are a darker example, as the spells they use to prevent death cause them constant pain.

* {{Wizards Live Longer}} Bards live for at least three hundred years or so.
* {{Working With The Ex}}: Cadvan and Nerili, though they're very mature about it and both agree they're {{Better As Friends}}.

* {{Dark And Troubled Past}}: Cadvan; the more unpleasant Bards often cast it up to him. [[spoiler: As a young man, he once called up a Revenant, an evil spirit, just to show off in front of his rival Dernhil and his lover Ceredin. He lost control; Ceredin was killed and Dernhil injured.]]
* {{Death Glare}}: Maerad is often described "glowering" at someone. Before she comes into her powers, her glares have the literal effect of, if not death, illness or accidents.
%%* {{Defeat Means Friendship}}: Dernhil and Cadvan.
* {{Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu}}: Maerad destroys [[spoiler: the Landrost]] single-handedly.
* {{Does Not Like Men}}: Maerad at first, due to her background as a slave; she got lots of practice at fending off would-be rapists. She gets over it gradually after meeting Cadvan and other decent men.

%%* {{Hot for Student}}: Dernhil for Maerad. [[spoiler: And Cadvan for Maerad, eventually.]]
%%* {{Humans Are Flawed}}
* {{If Youre So Evil Eat This Kitten}}: Part of Hem's backstory. The Hulls tried to "initiate" him into their ranks by forcing him to kill a friend of his from the orphanage. He refused.
%%* {{I Just Want To Be Normal}}: Poor Maerad.

* {{Immortality Immorality}}: Sharma, who cast off his Truename to become immortal.
* {{It Has Been An Honor}}: Cadvan and Indik, Maerad's swordmaster, at the Battle of Innail. [[spoiler: Both survive.]]

* LiteraryAgentHypothesis: The books are supposedly translations of ''The Riddle of Treesong'', a fantasy epic from the nonexistent Earth land Edil-Amarandh.
%%* {{Language of Magic}}: The Speech.

** Lots of them for ''Literature/LordOfTheRings''.

%% ZeroContextExample entries are not allowed on wiki pages. All such entries have been commented out. Add context to the entries before uncommenting them.

* ''The Bone Queen: A Book of Pellinor

* ShoutOut: In Book One, Cadvan tells of how he was dabbling in the Dark Arts, and [[Literature/EarthseaTrilogy summoned up a dark spirit that left a scar and killed someone, and he had to travel in order to find and destroy it.]]

* {{An Ice Person}}: Arkan, the Winterking.

* {{Big Eater}}: Hem.

* {{Child Soldiers}}: In "The Crow".
* TheChosenOne: Maerad and, to a lesser extent, Hem.
* {{Combat Medic}}: Hem and Saliman.
* {{Cultured Warrior}}: Most Bards, especially Cadvan.

* {{Defeat Means Friendship}}: Dernhil and Cadvan.

* {{Evil Tower of Ominousness}}: Where Sharma resides.
* {{Face Heel Turn}}: [[spoiler: Enkir.]]
* {{The Fair Folk}}: The Elidhu.

* {{Gorn}}: The almost unreadable second half of "The Crow".
* [[HardWorkHardlyWorks Hard Work, Hardly Works]]: Maerad.
* HeroicFantasy

* {{Hot for Student}}: Dernhil for Maerad. [[spoiler: And Cadvan for Maerad, eventually.]]
* {{Humans Are Flawed}}

* {{I Just Want To Be Normal}}: Poor Maerad.

* {{Jerk With A Heart Of Gold}}: Indik.

* {{Language of Magic}}: The Speech.

* TheMagocracy: The Schools.

* {{Mecha Mooks}}: The dogsoldiers.

* MentorArchetype: Cadvan, Saliman in Book 3.
* MentorShip: Cadvan and Maerad.
* {{Mordor}}: Den Raven

* NotQuiteDead: Cadvan, Darsor, and Imi.

* OldMaster: Cadvan.

* EeriePaleSkinnedBrunette: Maerad.
* {{The Plague}}: The White Sickness.

* ReallySevenHundredYearsOld: Bards. And Elidhu.

* TheObiWan: Cadvan.

-----

* {{Big Brother Instinct}}: [[spoiler: Maerad has a powerful Big Sister Instinct towards Hem, even before finding out who he is.]]

* {{Shoot the Shaggy Dog}}: In ''The Crow''. [[spoiler: Isn't it amazing what lengths Hem goes to to rescue Zelika? Isn't it clever how he tricks the Hulls so he can search for her without being discovered? Isn't it sweet how he [[PuppyLove decides he wants to marry her when he grows up]]? Well, too bad she was DeadAllAlong.]] Meant, of course, to deliver an {{Aesop}} about the cruelty of war—[[TearJerker and, damn, did it work]].

* OldMaster Cadvan.

** Lots of them for ''LordOfTheRings''.

* {{White Haired Pretty Girl}}: Ardina.

** Lots of them for {{''Lord Of The Rings''}}.

* FramingDevice: Each book is introduced as though they were translated from manuscripts found buried in the Atlas Mountains in Morocco, with the intention of making the story seem sdet in our world in the distant past.
* {{Gaia's Lament}}: The Glandugir Hills and Den Raven, so polluted that sensing the misery of the earth makes Hem feel nauseous.

* ''The Gift: The First Book of Pellinor (US: TheNaming)''