History Literature / DeltoraQuest

* PlotCoupons
%% * FakeTown: The Ralad tribe built one of these in order to fake their extinction and thereby remain safe from the Evil Overlord. (Their real city is an elaborate underground complex.) It works like a charm, not least because the Ralads' hat is architecture.

* PotemkinVillage: The Ralad tribe built one of these in order to fake their extinction and thereby remain safe from the Evil Overlord. (Their real city is an elaborate underground complex.) It works like a charm, not least because the Ralads' hat is architecture.

* LogicBomb: The heroes come upon a monster guarding a bridge. Barda and Jasmine pass its tests, but the Lief fails the riddle, and the monster allows him to say one last thing to determine how he die. If the statement is true, he will be strangled. If it's false, his head will be cut off. He says "My head will be cut off." Fortunately, a paradox was exactly what was needed to defeat the monster in the first place, as the monster was condemned to guard the bridge "Until truth and lies are one." The monster is returned to its original form, a black bird, and freed.

* TheDragonsComeBack: Essentially the plot behind ''[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Dragons of Deltora]]''.
* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler: Paff.]]
* DyingMomentOfAwesome: [[spoiler:Glock.]] It also was a SugarWiki/{{Heartwarming Moment|s}}.

* RealSongThemeTune: The AnimatedAdaptation featured the song "In This Life", by Delta Goodrem, as its 3rd opening theme (at least in the original Japanese version).

* ActionGirl: Jewel. Though she never gets the chance to use her weapons, it's made clear that she's as much of an ActionGirl as Lindal, having grown up in Broome.

** also averted, strangely. She can be killed by drawing a single drop of her blood. Knowing this, she magically armors her body to the point of complete invulnerability... except the finger she uses to cast spells.

Recently, a second series set in the same universe has been released. This series, titled The Three Doors, shares many of the plot elements and mythologies of the first series, and directly references the past history of Deltora.

** In the second chapter of '' The Forests of Silence'', Jarrad reads the Belt of Deltora the contains the passage "[Adin] ruled the land long and wisely. But he never forgot he was a man of the people, and that their trust in him was the sorce of his power. Neither did he forget that the Enemy, though defeated, was not destroyed. He knew that the ememy is clever and sly, and that to its anger and envy a thousand years is like the blink of an eye. So he wore the belt always, and never let it out of his sight." The Sister of the South ends with the same passage but this time in regards to [[Spolier: Lief's]] reign as king.

!! ''The Three Doors Trilogy'' exhibits the following tropes:

!! ''Star of Deltora'' exhibits the following tropes:

* IdentityAmnesia: [[spoiler: Rye briefly loses his memory during ''The Third Door'' and goes by the name Keelin.

* ActionGirl
** Jewel in ''Star of Deltora''. Though she never gets the chance to use her weapons, it's made clear that she's as much of an ActionGirl as Lindal, having grown up in Broome.
* DarkAndTroubledPast:
** Sky in ''Star of Deltora''. He grows up fending for himself on the River Broad, and it's implied that [[spoiler: he's seen so much death that not even the sight of Bar-Enoch's centuries-old corpse can shock him. This is made even worse by the fact that, unlike the previous examples listed, this happened under the reign of King Lief, during a time when the kingdom is supposedly prospering and at peace.]]
* DeadpanSnarker
** Sky of Rithmere, in ''Star of Deltora''.

''Deltora Quest'' is the collective title of three separate series of [[HighFantasy Fantasy]] novels written by [[AustralianLiterature Australian author]] Emily Rodda, with cover art and other illustrations by Marc [=McBride=]. A series written as a mix of [[GenreBusting fantasy, mystery, interactivity, horror, romance, action and adventure]], it definitely has a following. Also, quite {{Troperiffic}}. The fifteen-book series chronicles the adventures of [[KidHero Lief]], [[TheBigGuy Barda]] and {{J|unglePrincess}}asmine as they fight to defend their land from the forces of evil, going on a series of quests and adventures across the country in the process.

!!The series exhibits the following tropes:

** Jewel in ''Star of Deltora''. Though she never gets the chance to use her weapons, it's made clear that she's as much of an ActionGirl as Lindal, having grown up in Broome.

** In the second chapter of '' The Forests of Silence'', Jarrad reads the Belt of Deltora the contains the passage "[Adin] ruled the land long and wisely. But he never forgot he was a man of the people, and that their trust in him was the sorce of his power. Neither did he forget that the Enemy, though defeated, was not destroyed. He knew that the ememy is clever and sly, and that to its anger and envy a thousand years is like the blink of an eye. So he wore the belt always, and never let it out of his sight." The Sister of the South ends with the same passage but this time in regards to Lief's reign as king.

* ChekhovsArmoury: Many objects encountered throughout the Three Doors series inevitably return, [[spoiler:whether the heroes recognise it or not]].

** Sky in ''Star of Deltora''. He grows up fending for himself on the River Broad, and it's implied that [[spoiler: he's seen so much death that not even the sight of Bar-Enoch's centuries-old corpse can shock him. This is made even worse by the fact that, unlike the previous examples listed, this happened under the reign of King Lief, during a time when the kingdom is supposedly prospering and at peace.]]

** Sky of Rithmere, in ''Star of Deltora''.

** Rye and Sonia in ''The Three Doors Trilogy''
** Britta, Jewel and Sky in ''Star of Deltora''

** In ''Star of Deltora'', Bosun the polypan for Captain Gripp.

** In ''The Three Doors'', there's Sonia/Rye, Dirk/Faene and Sholto/Annocki.

** The second half of ''The Third Door'' is practically made up Rye and Sonia wading through a river of Red Herrings; trying to figure out who is friend, who is foe and what the hell is even going on.

** During ''The Third Door'' Sholto and Sonia.

** In ''Star of Deltora'', there is Britta/Jantsy and Britta/[[spoiler: Sky]]. It's not clear at the moment which pairing will become an OfficialCouple.

** Sky of Rithmere, in ''Shadows of the Master''.

** In ''Star of Deltora'', text from ''A Trader's Life'' crops up from time to time in Britta's memory.

A third series has also being added to the continuity. This series, titled ''Star of Deltora'', takes place [[TimeSkip a few decades after the end of Deltora Quest]] and is initially set in Del, but promises to visit other lands across the sea.

* RedHerring: Used twice in the final book of the first series, when they are looking for the heir. At first it is believed to be [[spoiler: Dain]], then [[spoiler: Jasmine]], before it was revealed to be [[spoiler: Lief]]. It is used again in the final book of the third series, in regards to the Sister of the South's Guardian. It is heavily implied to be [[spoiler: Doom]], but it is actually [[spoiler: Paff]].

* MeaningfulName[=/=]ThemeNaming:

** [[spoiler:Dain]] turns out to be [[spoiler:a [[{{Shapeshifting}} Grade 3 Ol]]]].
** [[spoiler: Paff]] in the third series.
** [[spoiler: Kree]] in the third series is an ''unwitting'' example.

* OfficialCouple: Lief and Jasmine (to no one's surprise), [[spoiler: Barda and Lindal]], [[spoiler: Ranesh and Marilen]]...

* OnlyOneName: Everyone, with the exception of Queen Bee and her sons, Steven and Nevets Bee.
** Also averted in ''Star of Deltora'', with Dare Larsett and his family, though only Dare is known by both his first name and surname.

* SpockSpeak

The first series, ''Deltora Quest'', follows our heroes as they journey to [[GottaCatchEmAll find the seven]] [[PlotCoupon long-lost gems from the Belt of Deltora]] and search for the [[RightfulKingReturns heir to the throne]] so that the [[TheKingdom land of Deltora]] can be freed from the reign of [[EvilOverlord the Shadow Lord]].

Currently has a [[AnimatedAdaptation anime adaptation,]] a manga adaptation and also a game on the DS. The anime has aired around the world, on TheHub, on Creator/{{ABC3}}, and in Italy.

* KansasCityShuffle: In the beginning of the series, Endon's wife pulls this off against his treacherous adviser Prandine. While they're in a tall tower, she looks out the window, gasps, and says unconvincingly that she saw nothing. Prandine, of course, goes to check it out- at which point she promptly [[DestinationDefenestration defenestrates]] him. She really did see nothing, but knew he wouldn't think she was truthful.

* CurseIsFoiledAgain: Partial subversion in the third series. When each of the Four Sisters poisoning the land is destroyed, the region it affected heals up immediately (crops grow again, poisoned wells clear up, et cetera)... but once all four are destroyed, [[spoiler:disgusting grey gunk starts rising from the ground to flood the land. Fortunately, the main characters manage to destroy that too. [[KillItWithFire With dragons]].]]