History Literature / ChroniclesofPrydain

* BigBadEnsemble: Achren is actively opposed to Arawn. Morgant tries to steal the Black Cauldron out from under both Arawn and Gwydion in order to try and become a FromNobodyToNightmare. Morda is an EvilSorcerer who plans to outmatch Arawn some day. Dorath, meanwhile, was just a PsychoForHire bandit with an "[[SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker everything burns]]" worldview; the companions often encounter him out of pure bad luck, yet he's always willing to make their lives miserable just for the hell of it. Whoever Gwyn the Hunter answers to may be a BiggerBad, but nobody knows precisely what's going on there. Pryderi...[[BigBadWannabe thinks he's playing Arawn for his own benefit,]] [[OutGambitted but isn't]].

* MildlyRoyal: [[spoiler: Tarn]] is implied to be one of these kings due to CharacterDevelopment.

* OutGambitted: Pryderi thinks he is tricking Arawn into serving him. He isn't.

* SelfDisposingVillain: King Pryderi. [[spoiler: To elaborate, he attempts to steal the Book of Three from Dallben. The enchanter warns him that betraying his former allies and working with Arawn have marked him for death if he touches the Book. He does it anyway and the Book burns him to a crisp with a lightning bolt.]]

* ThouShaltNotKill: [[spoiler:Dallben]], according to Pryderi, though [[spoiler:Dallben]] doesn't confirm it (he only says that no man has ever died ''by his hand'', and that Arawn has misled Pryderi with "half-truths").

* WellIntentionedExtremist: Pryderi

* JustEatTheMacGuffin: The title device in ''The Black Cauldron''.

* RavensAndCrows: A heroic example in Kaw the crow, who turns out to be an important ally to the heroes.

* HornedHumanoid: The Horned King.

Enter the protagonist, '''Taran''', Assistant Pig-Keeper to the oracular pig Hen Wen. A [[KidHero boy seemingly in his early teens]] who was [[ParentalAbandonment orphaned at as an infant,]] Taran is thrust into the conflicts between the Sons of Don and Arawn as they struggle for the rulership of Prydain. Taran is an ambitious, headstrong youth who initially [[JumpedAtTheCall leaps at any call to adventure]] and believes himself [[HeroicWannabe capable of great things,]] but in truth he often finds that leading a heroic life of adventure is not all as romantic and exciting as he would have thought. Over the course of the novels, Taran grows from a callow, stubborn youth into a genuinely wise and noble young man, and in the end, learns the hard way what it truly means to be a hero.

* {{Self-Disposing Villain}}: King Pryderi. [[spoiler: To elaborate, he attempts to steal the Book of Three from Dallben. The enchanter warns him that betraying his former allies and working with Arawn have marked him for death if he touches the Book. He does it anyway and the Book burns him to a crisp with a lightning bolt.]]

** And do not insult her in front of Taran.

* BigBadassWolf: Brynach and Briavel.

* MirrorOfLlunet: The (former) TropeNamer

** Arguably the powers Eilonwy and her mother inherited. They do provide the wielder with a lot of power, but they also did neither of the women any good. As an enchantress, Queen Angharad was expected to marry a man born with magical powers of his own, and ended up banished when she decided to elope with a man who she loved, but who gained his magical powers from his own efforts and not birth. Eilonwy, meanwhile, only uses a magic spell ''once'' in the series, which doesn't even really work. She was kidnapped from her mother as a baby because Achren wanted to steal her powers, and ends up abducted and {{brainwashed}} in the third book, because of this plan. After that, she can't even use her powers, though she still has them. The last straw is in ''The High King'', when she learns that [[spoiler:her latent magic is still enough to mean she has no choice but to leave Taran and travel to the Summer Country, which she declares as being "worse than unfair" because she never ''asked'' for said powers. When Dalben informs her of a way to be rid of them, she does it without a second's hesitation.]]

* DisproportionateRetribution: King Smoit is likely to cave a few skulls in over petty arguments. (To be fair, most of the petty lords in his kingdom deserve it.)

* TheMessiah: Taran slowly evolves into this.

* TheUnchosenOne: Taran literally stumbles into the middle of the war and becomes TheMessiah and later [[spoiler:High King of Prydain]] through sheer determination.

* DoesNotLikeShoes: Eilonwy, who is either barefoot (''The Castle of Llyr'') or wearing sandals (''The Book of Three'').

And normally a book-specific GuestStarPartyMember or two, such as '''Adaon''' and '''Ellidyr''' the WarriorPoet and PrinceCharmless in ''The Black Cauldron'', LordErrorProne '''Prince Rhun''' in ''The Castle of Llyr'' and '''Glew''' in ''The High King'', who takes over the DirtyCoward role from Gurgi.

* ParentalMarriageVeto: Eilonwy's parents. Gwydion mentions it briefly in the third book; the extra volume ''The Foundling and Other Tales of Prydain'' gives the story of their romance in much greater detail.
** In summary: Angharad, Eilonwy's mother, was a highborn enchantress who rejected her snooty wizard suitors and instead fell for a humble storyteller. [[MostWritersAreWriters (Lloyd Alexander does love his bards.)]] The pair of them were exiled.

* TheWisePrince: Gwydion

* WillTheyOrWontThey: Dragged out until the ''very last page'' of the final book with Taran and Eilonwy. [[spoiler: TheyDo, of course.]]

* WeCanRuleTogether: Achren makes no secret of the fact that she wishes to make Gwydion her consort, and offers him several chances to join her. Unfortunately for her, Gwydion is a CelibateHero.

* WarIsGlorious: Adaon will tell you this is not the case. [[CallToAgriculture "There is more honor in a field well plowed than in a field steeped in blood."]]

* TheUnreveal: [[spoiler: We never learn who Taran's biological parents are. They're probably nobody we know.]] Also, [[spoiler:We never really learn who/what Arawn really is. After he's killed, he reverts to his true form which ends up lying face down on the floor, but before anyone can go near him, [[LoadBearingBoss his fortress starts to crumble]] and everyone has to split]].

* TricksterMentor: Dallben, although not antagonistic in the slightest, does otherwise fit the description.

* ThrowItIn: How cooking works in Llonio's household in ''Taran Wanderer''. He sends all his children to find ingredients, and whatever they bring back ends up in what can only be described as a sort of pancake-omelet.

* ThouShaltNotKill: [[spoiler: Dallben, according to Pryderi, though Dallben doesn't confirm it (he only says that no man has ever died ''by his hand'', and that Arawn has misled Pryderi with "half-truths").]]

* StayInTheKitchen: Taran harbors some unfortunate ideas about women in his youth. Some time spent as the apprentice of the spry Dwyvach Weaver-Woman helps him learn better.

* TheStarscream: A bit of a twist, current BigBad Arawn was in fact TheStarscream to former BigBad, Achren. [[spoiler: [[DoubleSubversion Twisted back]] in that Achren [[KarmicDeath turned right around and Starscreamed back at him.]]]]

* ScaledUp: Arawn is a particularly bad case of this.
** Partially averted, as he was trying to get out unseen, and almost succeeded.

* RebelliousPrincess: Eilonwy, who started this trend nearly thirty years before Disney, making this OlderThanTheyThink.
** Not only that, she was also ''Disney's'' first rebellious princess!

* PositiveDiscrimination: Eilonwy at Taran's expense in the first three books.
** Although she herself is pretty shrewish at the beginning.