History Literature / DragonsKeep

[[AC: Tropes in Dragon's Keep]]

* YankTheDogsChain: [[spoiler: Queen Gweneth and Rosalind had hoped that Demetra's "treatment" would cure Rosalind's claw. Instead, comes back as worse as before.]]

* LangaugeEqualsThought: For all the dragon tongue she learned, Rosalind learns that dragons do not have any penitent words that mean "sorry" or "forgive me". This becomes a problem when she accidentally drenches Kadmi and is unable to say any apologetic words in dragon tongue.

* ProphecyTwist:[[spoiler: Simultaneously, both prophecies by Merlin come true. The prophecy for the Dragons claimed there would be peace when a human king offered his sword and a dragon gave its claw. Not only does Kai (a faithful disciple of Merlin and the current king-consort of Wilde Island) break his sword, but the remaining dragon do offer up a claw: ''Rosalind's'' claw. Under the guise of magically gifting her a dragon talon, this fulfills the prophecy about Rosalind, including [[ExactWords ending war (between humans and dragons) with a wave of her hand]].]]

* ParentalSurrogate: [[spoiler: After her daughter Kit dies saving Ore, Alissandra is left childless. However, since Rosalind is likewise left orphaned thanks to circumstances, she looks to Alissandra as an adoptive mother.]]

* PosthumousCharacter: Charsha is killed just prior to the main story, and we never see her in person.

** Lord Faul ridicules to Queen Gweneth for [[spoiler: not only killing off his mate, but for drinking one of the dragon eggs Demetra had stolen. The Queen may not have stolen the egg herself, but her drinking it enabled the practice of egg-stealing.]]
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Lord Faul. He may bitterly loathe humans (except for how they taste), but he has a [[NobleDemon strong sense of honor and honesty]]. Although harsh at times, [[spoiler: he has a fatherly love for his children and does [[ToughLove everything to toughen them up]] for what lies beyond their island. Heck, later on, he momentarily expresses concern for Rosalind when she claims she took a walk in the dangerous rainstorm.]]
* KillAllHumans: The dragons have this as their main goal.
* LaserGuidedKarma: [[spoiler: Even Rosalind [[LampshadeHanging notes]] how poetic it is that Sir Magnus, who tried to have her hanged, would be executed upon the very gallows built for her.]]
* LawOfInverseFertility: Queen Gweneth knew the prophecy of Wilde Island's 21st queen would ride of her giving birth to an heir, and as bad luck would have it, she couldn't have a baby for 7 years. [[spoiler: It was only thanks to Lord Faul and Charsha's egg that the Queen was finally able to conceive and give birth to Rosalind.]]

* ThePowerOfHate: All dragons are taught to hate and distrust humans.

* ProphecyTwist:[[spoiler: Simultaneously, both prophecies by Merlin come true.]]

* TheSpeechless: Kit.

* TamperingWithFoodAndDrink: According to rumors, Magnus was sent to Wilde Island as a prisoner because his crime was poisoning his wife for her money. [[spoiler: If Queen Gweneth dying from a Poppy Potion overdose is any indication, it turns out those rumors are [[EvilAllAlong true]].]]

* TitleDrop: Dragon's Keep is the name of the dragon's home island.

* WeaksauceWeakness: Dragons may be pretty big and pretty powerful, yet the simplest thing in the world can kill them: crying. All it takes is for the dragon to shed even a few tears and it douses their inner flame, leading to their death in a matter of hours. Justified, as dragons reinforce themselves by teaching themselves and their young to be too bitter for crying.

** Demetra also falls under this, beating up Kit to the point Ali feels her daughter's save in the cave. [[spoiler: And that's before we learn Demetra stuffed a shadow wraith down baby Kit's throat to silence her crying.]]

* AwfulTruth: For some time, Rosalind has always suspected that [[spoiler: her own mother was the one who pushed Magda into the moat and murdered Tess]]. But Rosalind could never find it in herself to directly accept it. Even when Faul says it out loud, it's so terrible that she goes into a nervous breakdown. It's not until midway through Part 3 that she musters the courage to write about it so she can finally come to terms with it.

* EarnYourHappyEnding: [[spoiler: Rosalind has spent the better part of her life wearing her golden gloves, keeping her claw a secret, and living in fear that others would find out and brand her a witch. Not to mention [[TraumaCongaLine she has lost so many friends and lost ones, and put up with being Lord Faul's servant]]. But by the end, not only has Rosalind become queen and married Kai: her claw manages to fulfill the prophecy. Believing it's a gift from the dragons, the people of Wilde Island embrace it as a precious peace offering from the dragons.]]

* TheProphecy
* ProphecyTwist:[[spoiler: Simultaneously, both prophecies come true.]]

* SavageWolves: In Part 2, Rosalind is attacked by wolves during a hunting trip. [[spoiler: Their biting her arm leads to Kai removing them and accidentally seeing Rosalind's claw.]]

** Unpleasant as he is, Sir Magnus has a point for turning down Rosalind's plan to poison the dragon, claiming it would take "too much" poison to kill it. [[RealityEnsues If the poison didn't kill a creature the size of a galleon first, it would certainly be enough to kill a human being.]]

* BigGood: King Gavin, Rosalind's father. [[spoiler: After he dies, Kai becomes this, able to restore reason to Wilde Island when they nearly executed Rosalind for being a witch.

* NearVictoryVillain: [[spoiler: Sir Magnus would've succeeded in convincing the kingdom of sentencing Rosalind to death and become Wilde Island's ruler, had it not been for Kai interfering and bringing proof Rosalind was the rightful ruler.]]

* NearVictoryVillian: [[spoiler: Sir Magnus would've succeeded in convincing the kingdom of sentencing Rosalind to death and become Wilde Island's ruler, had it not been for Kai interfering and bringing proof Rosalind was the rightful ruler.]]

* BigGood: King Gavin, Rosalind's father.

* AllForNothing: [[spoiler: The instant Rosalind removes and drops her golden gloves, Queen Gweneth has a mental breakdown because of what it stands for: all her machinations, all her hard work to make Rosalind queen of England, have amounted to nothing.]]

* WretchedHive: Wilde Island was a prison colony many generations ago, before Princess Yvaine became its queen. Even to this day, its woods are still haunted by footpads and thieves.

* VillainHasAPoint: When Rosalind mentions her plan of going to a healing spring in the mountains, Demetra makes a point that the spring has become an ordinary marsh now. If it were otherwise, as she notes, she's charging people to use it instead of living in a ratty old cave.