History Literature / Fablehaven

* NotNowKiddo: Thankfully averted. The adults are GenreSavvy enough to know that a creature that the underage can see but the adults can't is completely plausible on a magical preserve.

* WellIntentionedExtremist: [[spoiler: The Sphinx sees his intentions as good, but according to the Fairy Queen he's also driven by a lust for power and control.]]

...Maybe we should start from the beginning.

** In the fourth book, we meet a stupid mountain troll named Udnar and a hermit troll named Bubda.

* ShoutOut: A possible subtle reference to ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' occurs in the third book, in which the heroes are attacked by a blue dragon that breathes lightning.

* KickTheSonOfABitch: Society member Christopher Vogel finds a bar of gold lying about and takes it with him. I was Nero's gold, which the Satyrs had stolen earlier, and an incredibly pissed Nero beats the crap out of him to take it back.

* Adorkable: Gavin [[spoiler: ''at first''. ]]

* BagOfHolding[=/=]{{Hammerspace}}: The transdimensional backpack.

* ButtMonkey: [[spoiler: Warren]] and Dale experience this at different levels. Dale is often harmed or rendered incapable of helping the team, e.g. [[spoiler:turned into a shadow, holed up in the barn when Graulas destroys the treaty, ''"Dale, I'm sorry you're stuck in a net".'']] And if one of the Knights gets hurt on a mission, it's probably [[spoiler:Warren.]] He's been [[spoiler:stabbed, clawed with harpy venom, trapped in an extradimensional space]]--you name it. The number of injuries he sustains through the series are just about incalculable.

* TheChessmaster: ''The Sphinx''.

** It's never specified how [[spoiler: Rosa]] died, but considering it involved a few hundred zombies an a ''dragon'' it couldn't have been pretty.

* SleepModeSize: Olloch the Glutton. To contain him, he was shrunk into a tiny stone statue of himself. If you feed him, he awakens, starts eating anything in his path, and grows at an incredible rate. He only reverts to statue form if he eats the person who fed him (though apparently he doesn't shrink again). At the beginning of the second book, Seth gets tricked into feeding Olloch, [[spoiler:who eventually catches up with him and swallows him. Fortunately, at the time he gets eaten, Seth is wearing an impenetrable cocoon, so Olloch reverts to statue form and Seth passes through the digestive system and escapes with his life.]]

* UnequalRites: Wizards are dragons how take permanent human form to drastically increase their magical abilities. Witches are mortals who have(somehow) learned to use dark magic. Warlocks and magicians have been stated to exist and be distinct from both, but it is never mentioned exactly how they are distinct.

*** Played heartbreakingly straight with [[spoiler: [[HeroicSacrifice Lena]]]], [[spoiler: [[EatenAlive Dougan]]]] and [[spoiler: [[TearJerker Mendigo]]]]

* ShooOutTheClowns: Quite surprisingly averted by Newel and Doren in book five. They stick around for the last battle, fight bravely, and, though their accomplishments are those of secondary characters, fight bravely and survive. Before the final battle, they do mention they know they are going to their probable deaths and would have ditched long ago if not for some pesky nobility that snuck into their characters. Yet they still come out with some great wingers even during all this--and while some of it is to help keep spirits up and the like, some of it is just them. Their battle cry is "for Frito-Lay" after all...

* VoluntaryShapeshifting: Dragons do this all the time, usually into human form. And Kendra and Seth shrink down to miniature size once. And the Eternal's guardians are [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot immortal sentient talking animals can instantly turn into any other animal of approximately the same mass and can only die through powerful magical means or if their charge is killed through the same]].

* VillainousVirtues: For all of his faults, Nero is honest. He might charge you an immense fee to have him use his seeing stone, and that fee will increase exponentially with every use, but you get what you pay for and he won't try to trick you with ExactWords or any other nonsense. Graulas bestowed his stone to him, and Nero is happy to lend him assistance out of gratitude.

* AffablyEvil: Torina in the fourth book.

* KissingCousins: OK, so nothing ever ''actually'' comes of it, but throughout Book 2, Kendra harbors a bit of a PrecociousCrush on [[spoiler: Warren]], who is in fact her distant cousin.

* MauveShirt: Several Knights are named and accompany them on missions, like Dougan, Vincent, Aaron and Mara. Some Society troops also have minor importance, like the Kobold [[spoiler: and Errol]].

*** Played heartbreakingly straight with [[spoiler: [[HeroicSacrifice Lena]]]], [[spoiler: [[EatenAlive Dougan]]]] and [[spoiler: [[Tearjerker Mendigo]]]]

*** Played heartbreakingly straight with [[spoiler: [[HeroicSacrifice Lena]]]], [[spoiler: [[EatenAlive Dougan]] and [[spoiler: [[Tearjerker Mendigo]]

* TheChessmaster: "The Sphinx".

** It's never specified how [[spoiler: Rosa]] died, but considering it involved a few hundred zombies an a "dragon" it couldn't have been pretty.

* Chessmaster: "The Sphinx".

* Chessmaster: "The Sphinx."

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* FalseFlagOperation: The Society's Modus Operandi and one of the themes in the books. Set up a threat, and rescue them to gain trust [[spoiler: Errol, Vanessa, and the Sphinx all play this out.]]

* GetItOverWith: In Grip of the Shadow Plague, when [[spoiler:Patton Burgess]] defeats the centaur Broadhoof in single combat.

* IdiotHero: Seth wouldn't be out of place in a {{shonen}} anime, the way he acts. Unlike a lot of ''shonen'' heroes, though, Seth regularly gets called for it.

* TheMole: Great gravy! [[spoiler: The Sphinx]] is the most prominent example, but the first major one is [[spoiler: Vanessa]], and [[spoiler: Gavin, AKA Navarog]], shows his TrueColors at either the worst or best possible time.

* MrViceGuy: Coulter, who despite being [[TheSmartGuy extremely intelligent]] and exceptionally gentlemanly, still retains a touch of "misguided chivalry"-style sexism (he won't put a woman in danger). He seems to lighten up as time goes by, though, and eventually seems to grudgingly admit that Kendra (and Ruth!) can hold their own.

* OurDragonsAreDifferent
* OurVampiresAreDifferent

* PinocchioSyndrome: Wizards are dragons that took permanent human form in order to greatly increase their magical powers. Comes at the cost of their ability to radiate fear, everything they could do physcialy in dragon form(like fly), and their [[WhoWantsToLiveForever immortality]]. They still age really slowly though.

* WriteWhoYouKnow: WordOfGod admits that his real-life little brother is impetuous in the same way Seth is, and while they're not ''exactly'' the same person, they're very close.

** Averted in the last book, where the climactic battle between Good and Evil has [[spoiler: almost no fatalities]].