Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* BadassBookworm: John is the only living dragonslayer, but he'd much rather be poring through old books for lore about history and the raising of pigs. His study is stuffed full of every book and scroll he's been able to get his hands on.
Added DiffLines:
* IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: [[spoiler:Jenny and Morkeleb affect each other strangely when their minds are linked. At the end, she briefly takes on the form of a dragon to join him in immortality and great power, but reconsiders when she realizes that power is pointless unless you're doing something with it. She decides to return to John, and Morkeleb lets her go, even though he only barely understands her decision because, through her, he had learned something of love.]]
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 36 (click to see context) from:
* SavedToEnslave: As the proverb goes, "Save a dragon, slave a dragon." Morkeleb gives Jenny his True Name so she can work healing magic on her, which she only later discovers has bound him to her.
to:
* SavedToEnslave: As the proverb goes, "Save a dragon, slave a dragon." Morkeleb gives Jenny his True Name so she can work healing magic on her, him, which she only later discovers has bound him to her.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 23 (click to see context) from:
* FamilyVersusCareer: Instead of devoting herself fully to either her magic or her role as a wife and mother, Jenny tries to do both at once, which means she's a not terribly powerful mage who constantly feels guilty about being away from her family. [[spoiler:Morkeleb's offer to turn her into a dragon, magically powerful and almost omniscient like himself, forces her to choose.]]
to:
* FamilyVersusCareer: Instead of devoting giving herself fully to either her magic or her role as a wife and mother, family, Jenny tries to do both at once, which means she's neither a not terribly powerful strong mage who constantly feels guilty about being away from her family.nor a truly devoted wife and mother. [[spoiler:Morkeleb's offer to turn her into a dragon, magically powerful and almost omniscient like himself, forces her to choose.]]
Added DiffLines:
* SavedToEnslave: As the proverb goes, "Save a dragon, slave a dragon." Morkeleb gives Jenny his True Name so she can work healing magic on her, which she only later discovers has bound him to her.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 14 (click to see context) from:
* BishounenLine: Applies to dragons, in a way: the youngest are simple, solid colors who develop complex patterns as they age, but these patterns fade over time, meaning the oldest dragons are solid again.
to:
* BishounenLine: Applies to dragons, in a way: the youngest are simple, solid colors who develop complex patterns as they age, but these patterns fade over time, meaning the oldest and strongest dragons are solid again.
Changed line(s) 16 (click to see context) from:
* CurseEscapeClause: The villainess performs a curse without 'limitations' and summons a dragon which she refuses to banish. Jenny later figures out that she ''can't'' banish it, not won't, since the 'limitations' keep the curse alive and give the caster ongoing control over it.
to:
* CurseEscapeClause: The villainess A villainous sorceress performs a curse spell without 'limitations' and summons a dragon which she refuses to banish. Jenny later figures out realizes that she ''can't'' banish it, not won't, since the 'limitations' keep the curse alive and give the caster ongoing control over it.
Changed line(s) 18,19 (click to see context) from:
* DragonHoard: Dragons love gold because dragon magic resonates with it to produce a narcotic-like effect that dragons easily become addicted to. Some dragons manage to break this addiction, however.
* TheDragonslayer: John is a deconstructed example of the trope. It's made clear that playing the trope straight and "taking a three-foot steel blade against twenty-five feet of spiked and flaming death" would have been a very bad idea.
* TheDragonslayer: John is a deconstructed example of the trope. It's made clear that playing the trope straight and "taking a three-foot steel blade against twenty-five feet of spiked and flaming death" would have been a very bad idea.
to:
* DragonHoard: Dragons love hoard gold because dragon their magic resonates with it to produce a narcotic-like effect that dragons easily become addicted to.is somewhat addictive. Some dragons manage to break this addiction, however.
* TheDragonslayer: John is adeconstructed example of the trope. deconstructed, CombatPragmatist version. It's made clear that playing the trope straight and "taking a three-foot steel blade against twenty-five feet of spiked and flaming death" would have been a very bad idea.be suicide.
* TheDragonslayer: John is a
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 21 (click to see context) from:
* ExpectingSomeoneTaller: Gareth's first encounter with the renowned dragon-slayer, John Aversin, is something of a disappointment. In fact Gareth was literally expecting someone taller, but that's only the start of it.
to:
* ExpectingSomeoneTaller: Gareth's first encounter with the renowned dragon-slayer, John Aversin, is something of a disappointment. In fact Gareth was literally expecting someone taller, but that's only the start of it.it: he was expecting a big knight who slew the dragon in single combat out of a ChivalricRomance, and got instead a fairly bookish CombatPragmatist.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* LowFantasy: As hinted above: it's a self-aware [[DeconstructedTrope brutal send-up]] of HeroicFantasy.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* FamilyVersusCareer: Instead of devoting herself fully to either her magic or her role as a wife and mother, Jenny tries to do both at once, which means she's a not terribly powerful mage who constantly feels guilty about being away from her family. [[spoiler:Morkeleb's offer to turn her into a dragon, magically powerful and almost omniscient like himself, forces her to choose.]]
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
[[quoteright:299:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dragonsbanehambly.jpg]]
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
*AdmiringTheAbomination: The protagonists never once think of dragons without noting 1. how incredibly lethal they are and 2. how incredibly beautiful they are.
Added DiffLines:
* BishounenLine: Applies to dragons, in a way: the youngest are simple, solid colors who develop complex patterns as they age, but these patterns fade over time, meaning the oldest dragons are solid again.
Added DiffLines:
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Three of them. We meet John, the Dragonsbane, ankle-deep in muck having an intelligent conversation about pigs. We meet Jenny, weaving very subtle and minor spells to let her safely pass a nest of bandits. And then we meet Gareth, yelling a warning to Jenny at the top of his lungs about said bandits (which naturally ruins all her plans).
Added DiffLines:
*FamilyUnfriendlyDeath: The methods by which the Dragonsbane got his kill. We're never told all the details, but apparently he crippled its wings, weakened it with poison, and then hacked it to death with an axe.
Added DiffLines:
* PowerAtAPrice: A repeated theme in the books is that power must be paid for. Everyone becomes suspicious when they meet a young mage who has immense power at no apparent cost.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* AllAnimalsAreDogs: Well, cats, actually. Hambly straight-up says the dragon did something "like a cat" at least five times. The dragon is basically a big, horribly lethal cat whenever he is not airborne.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
* LethalChef: There's a reason Jenny insists on doing the cooking. John fancies himself a good cook, but you never see anything but black smoke when he does.
Added DiffLines:
* RunningGag: John and the griddle-cakes.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
from trope pages
Changed line(s) 3,4 (click to see context) from:
John Aversin is the only living man known to have slain a dragon. He's not particularly keen to do it again, but when he's summoned to the royal capital to deal with a dragon there, he reluctantly goes.
to:
John Aversin is the only living man known to have slain a dragon. He's not particularly keen to do it again, but when he's summoned to the royal capital to deal with a dragon there, he reluctantly goes.
goes. Accompanying him is his wife, Jenny Waynest, a half-educated wizard, who will face her own challenges in the city.
* CurseEscapeClause: The villainess performs a curse without 'limitations' and summons a dragon which she refuses to banish. Jenny later figures out that she ''can't'' banish it, not won't, since the 'limitations' keep the curse alive and give the caster ongoing control over it.
* TheDragonslayer: John is a deconstructed example of the trope. It's made clear that playing the trope straight and "taking a three-foot steel blade against twenty-five feet of spiked and flaming death" would have been a very bad idea.
Changed line(s) 15 (click to see context) from:
* HeroicWannabe: Gareth.
to:
* HeroicWannabe: Gareth.Gareth has grown up on tales of heroic deeds like John's, and dreamed of performing a similarly heroic deed himself. He's initially rather put out to learn that even the heroes famed in story don't perform heroic deeds like the ones in the stories.
* IKnowYourTrueName: Everything, even inanimate objects, have true names. Any spell stronger than basic telepathy (which can be used to discover someone's true name) requires you to Know Your Target's True Name, and you have to power the spell by "sourcing" [[{{Mana}} energy]] from things you know the true names of. Dragons are immune to magic because nobody can figure out what their true names are.
* MasterApprenticeChain: The usual form magical education takes. Knowing a mage's 'line' tells you all kind of things about the type of spells they are likely to know and avoid.
* IKnowYourTrueName: Everything, even inanimate objects, have true names. Any spell stronger than basic telepathy (which can be used to discover someone's true name) requires you to Know Your Target's True Name, and you have to power the spell by "sourcing" [[{{Mana}} energy]] from things you know the true names of. Dragons are immune to magic because nobody can figure out what their true names are.
* MasterApprenticeChain: The usual form magical education takes. Knowing a mage's 'line' tells you all kind of things about the type of spells they are likely to know and avoid.
Added DiffLines:
* PerceptionFilter: Jenny Waynest attempts to use one of these to sneak past a group of bandits, but Gareth -- not realizing the situation -- disrupts the spell.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
trope list from Barbara Hambly
Added DiffLines:
''Dragonsbane'' is a fantasy novel by Creator/BarbaraHambly, first published in 1985.
John Aversin is the only living man known to have slain a dragon. He's not particularly keen to do it again, but when he's summoned to the royal capital to deal with a dragon there, he reluctantly goes.
The novel deconstructs a lot of the tropes of knight-vs-dragon legends. Slaying a dragon is difficult, messy work, and definitely not a job for a lone man with a sword. The nobility who inhabit the royal capital are not particularly noble, and when it comes down to it, the dragon is less of a problem than some of the human beings.
Followed years later by a sequel trilogy, consisting of ''Dragonshadow'', ''Knight of the Demon Queen'', and ''Dragonstar''.
!!''Dragonsbane'' contains examples of:
* CombatPragmatist: ''Dragonsbane'' goes into some detail about how incredibly difficult it is to kill a dragon. John uses tactics that Gareth finds appalling (including shredding the dragon's wings with poisoned harpoons), but John knows that trying to fight a dragon "honorably" is pure suicide.
* {{Deconstruction}}: Of classic fantasy clichés, particularly those concerning noble knights fighting dire dragons.
* DragonHoard: Dragons love gold because dragon magic resonates with it to produce a narcotic-like effect that dragons easily become addicted to. Some dragons manage to break this addiction, however.
* ExpectingSomeoneTaller: Gareth's first encounter with the renowned dragon-slayer, John Aversin, is something of a disappointment. In fact Gareth was literally expecting someone taller, but that's only the start of it.
* HeroicWannabe: Gareth.
* OurDragonsAreDifferent: Dragons are telepathic, magically endowed, and fairly intelligent, if a little isolated and alien in mindset. They have an honest-to-goodness addiction to gold, which is why they tend to hoard it.
* ProperlyParanoid:
-->"Why?" Gareth bleated. "What's wrong? For three days you've been running away from your own shadows..."\\
"That's right," John agreed, and there was a dangerous edge to his quiet voice. "You ever think what might happen to you if your own shadow caught you? Now ride -- and ride silent."
----
John Aversin is the only living man known to have slain a dragon. He's not particularly keen to do it again, but when he's summoned to the royal capital to deal with a dragon there, he reluctantly goes.
The novel deconstructs a lot of the tropes of knight-vs-dragon legends. Slaying a dragon is difficult, messy work, and definitely not a job for a lone man with a sword. The nobility who inhabit the royal capital are not particularly noble, and when it comes down to it, the dragon is less of a problem than some of the human beings.
Followed years later by a sequel trilogy, consisting of ''Dragonshadow'', ''Knight of the Demon Queen'', and ''Dragonstar''.
!!''Dragonsbane'' contains examples of:
* CombatPragmatist: ''Dragonsbane'' goes into some detail about how incredibly difficult it is to kill a dragon. John uses tactics that Gareth finds appalling (including shredding the dragon's wings with poisoned harpoons), but John knows that trying to fight a dragon "honorably" is pure suicide.
* {{Deconstruction}}: Of classic fantasy clichés, particularly those concerning noble knights fighting dire dragons.
* DragonHoard: Dragons love gold because dragon magic resonates with it to produce a narcotic-like effect that dragons easily become addicted to. Some dragons manage to break this addiction, however.
* ExpectingSomeoneTaller: Gareth's first encounter with the renowned dragon-slayer, John Aversin, is something of a disappointment. In fact Gareth was literally expecting someone taller, but that's only the start of it.
* HeroicWannabe: Gareth.
* OurDragonsAreDifferent: Dragons are telepathic, magically endowed, and fairly intelligent, if a little isolated and alien in mindset. They have an honest-to-goodness addiction to gold, which is why they tend to hoard it.
* ProperlyParanoid:
-->"Why?" Gareth bleated. "What's wrong? For three days you've been running away from your own shadows..."\\
"That's right," John agreed, and there was a dangerous edge to his quiet voice. "You ever think what might happen to you if your own shadow caught you? Now ride -- and ride silent."
----
