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* AffablyEvil: Reigner One. He looks and behaves like a kindly grandfather, offering soothing words and candy. He also orders the torture and termination of these children if they don't behave to his liking.
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* AffablyEvil: Reigner One. He One looks and behaves like a kindly grandfather, offering soothing words and candy.candy to the children under his care. He also orders the torture and termination of these children if they don't behave to his liking.
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* AffablyEvil: Reigner One.
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* AffablyEvil: Reigner One. He looks and behaves like a kindly grandfather, offering soothing words and candy. He also orders the torture and termination of these children if they don't behave to his liking.
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* AnachronicOrder: The second mini-chapter takes place near what is chronologically the end of the book. [[spoiler: And Vierran's introduction and visit to Earth actually takes place chronologically before the entire first half of the book.]] To be fair, there's an in-story reason for that.
to:
* AnachronicOrder: AnachronicOrder:
** Ann's visits to the wood happen like this at first, and she primarily recognises them as such because of Hume's changing age. She seems to be the only one experiencing things this way, but even her mind cannot be trusted.
** The second mini-chapter takes place near what is chronologically the end of the book. [[spoiler: And Vierran's introduction and visit to Earth actually takes place chronologically before the entire first half of the book.]] To be fair, there's an in-story reason for that.
** Ann's visits to the wood happen like this at first, and she primarily recognises them as such because of Hume's changing age. She seems to be the only one experiencing things this way, but even her mind cannot be trusted.
** The second mini-chapter takes place near what is chronologically the end of the book. [[spoiler: And Vierran's introduction and visit to Earth actually takes place chronologically before the entire first half of the book.]] To be fair, there's an in-story reason for that.
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* TheArtifact: With the sole exception of Reigner One, none of the other Reigners actually ''are'' Reigners. Their species was carefully exterminated or exiled centuries ago, and the current group are just ordinary HumanAliens who empower themselves with a lot of very expensive technology. Even Reigner One is only a half-blood Reigner, and the others are extremely disturbed when he casually reveals that their Servant, [[spoiler:Mordion]], is in fact full-blooded.
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* HaveWeMetYet:
** Ann is increasingly frustrated throughout the first half of the book when she seems to enter the wood at a different year each visit; Hume bounces around from being an infant to a teenager and back again, from her perspective, and he occasionally mentions things to her that she has yet to experience. More confusingly, she herself sometimes remembers things that haven't happened to her yet, such as the first time she meets Hume after his "creation". After a second, she finds that she already knows who he is and what his name is, despite never having been told.
** When Yam is discovered by Ann and Hume at Hexwood Farm, Hume already knows who he is, since Yam was the first person he met after he was "born", and Yam had already been sworn to protect Hume by Mordion in both of their personal futures, which doesn't happen until [[StableTimeLoop after Hume and Ann rescue Yam and bring him back to Mordion]].
* MageSpecies: What the Reigners used to be, until Orm Pender took control and had all the other Reigners killed, exiled or enslaved. They possessed innate psychic powers, long lifespans and the ability to control magic.
** Ann is increasingly frustrated throughout the first half of the book when she seems to enter the wood at a different year each visit; Hume bounces around from being an infant to a teenager and back again, from her perspective, and he occasionally mentions things to her that she has yet to experience. More confusingly, she herself sometimes remembers things that haven't happened to her yet, such as the first time she meets Hume after his "creation". After a second, she finds that she already knows who he is and what his name is, despite never having been told.
** When Yam is discovered by Ann and Hume at Hexwood Farm, Hume already knows who he is, since Yam was the first person he met after he was "born", and Yam had already been sworn to protect Hume by Mordion in both of their personal futures, which doesn't happen until [[StableTimeLoop after Hume and Ann rescue Yam and bring him back to Mordion]].
* MageSpecies: What the Reigners used to be, until Orm Pender took control and had all the other Reigners killed, exiled or enslaved. They possessed innate psychic powers, long lifespans and the ability to control magic.
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* Psychic Link: Ann hears the voices of four other people from different worlds and times. She tries to convince herself that they're imaginary, but deep down she knows they're real. [[spoiler:This ability is innate to many "full-blooded" Reigners, and in the end she and the four others become the new Reigner council.]]
to:
* Psychic Link: PsychicLink: Ann hears the voices of four other people from different worlds and times. She tries to convince herself that they're imaginary, but deep down she knows they're real. [[spoiler:This ability is innate to many "full-blooded" Reigners, and in the end she and the four others become the new Reigner council.]]
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* AmnesiaLoop: It's not until Vierran uncovers her own recorded message to herself that it's made explicitly clear that the Bannus isn't just changing events, it's ''replaying'' them.
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* ChekhovsGun: As Vierran departs the House of Balance for Earth, her father smuggles her a gift: a bracelet that hides a gun loaded with poison darts, as well as a message tape. The gun itself never gets fired, but the tape later provides a major revelation for Vierran.
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* PlotInducedIllness: [[spoiler: Ann is introduced as being very unwell from a long-lasting virus that keeps her bedridden. This "illness" was placed on her by the Bannus to preserve her false identity as a school-aged child that couldn't go to school outside of the field. By the time the school year is over, she miraculously recovers, and is able to travel into the wood to take part in the story properly.]]
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* RiddleForTheAges: Exactly which aspects of the plot were caused by the Bannus, or the Wood, or both together. The only sure distinction is that the Bannus's field is slightly larger than the Wood, which is why [[spoiler:Ann, her family and the other residents of Wood Street]] operate in a different false reality than the Arthurian world of the Wood, but even that leaves several questions unanswered.
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* WhamLine: Vierran, in a hotel outside the Bannus field with Reigners One and Three, listens to a secret tape her father smuggled to her. After his message is over, another voice plays:
-->[[spoiler: '''Vierran''': Vierran. This is Vierran speaking. Vierran to myself. This is at least the second time I've sat in the inn bedroom despairing, and I'm beginning to not quite believe in it. If it happens again, this is to let me know there's something odd going on.]]
-->[[spoiler: '''Vierran''': Vierran. This is Vierran speaking. Vierran to myself. This is at least the second time I've sat in the inn bedroom despairing, and I'm beginning to not quite believe in it. If it happens again, this is to let me know there's something odd going on.]]
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* DecoyProtagonist
to:
* DecoyProtagonistDecoyProtagonist: [[spoiler: Ann, the plucky young Earth girl who serves as the primary focus for the first half of the book, is not real. She disappears around the mid-point, replaced by her true self, Vierran. The Bannus had made Vierran act as she had when she was a teenager, for reasons that remain mysterious.]]
* DumbBlonde: Vierran's cousin Siri, though beautiful and blonde, is normally very intelligent, but in the world of the Bannus she becomes the deeply stupid Lady Sylvia, and Vierran calls her the trope by name. She wonders if deep down Siri wanted a break from being so competent all the time, and the Bannus gave her a reprieve from having to use her brain for a while.
* DumbBlonde: Vierran's cousin Siri, though beautiful and blonde, is normally very intelligent, but in the world of the Bannus she becomes the deeply stupid Lady Sylvia, and Vierran calls her the trope by name. She wonders if deep down Siri wanted a break from being so competent all the time, and the Bannus gave her a reprieve from having to use her brain for a while.
* ExtremelyShortTimespan: All told, the events of the book take place over about a fortnight. Inside the Bannus, however, many years pass.
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* GenreBusting: Asides from how the various characters seem to start out on opposite genre strands (one end is an intergalactic sci-fi; the other end is the sort of Cozy Suburban Novel where a plucky girl solves a mystery, a la Nancy Drew), this is a novel that ends up seamlessly combining [[spoiler:an intergalactic empire, a genetic engineering program, very advanced technology, King Arthur, magic, a five-brained reality-warping cyborg, a Lord of the Rings simulation gone horribly right, and people being turned into dragons by a bit more of that reality simulation gone horribly right]]. Also, in maybe the most genre-busting moment, [[spoiler:the Bannus finds itself trapped at the very last minute by a mythical representation of the English Woods, and it turns out that the mixed-up chronology of the novel is due in parts to the Woods' interference]]. Diana Wynne Jones herself is on record as having trouble with writing the novel at first, since she was convinced it ''had'' to be two separate novels that needed to be untangled, but then she realized how everything fit and we got ''Hexwood'' as the result.
* MindScrew: When we say distorts reality, we ''mean'' it.
** Well, what do you ''expect'' when you've got a [[spoiler: very angry]] RealityWarper involved? Figurative warping of reality?
* MindScrew: When we say distorts reality, we ''mean'' it.
** Well, what do you ''expect'' when you've got a [[spoiler: very angry]] RealityWarper involved? Figurative warping of reality?
to:
* GenreBusting: Asides Aside from how the various characters seem to start out on opposite genre strands (one end is an intergalactic sci-fi; the other end is the sort of Cozy Suburban Novel where a plucky girl solves a mystery, a la Nancy Drew), this is a novel that ends up seamlessly combining [[spoiler:an intergalactic empire, a genetic engineering program, very advanced technology, King Arthur, magic, a five-brained reality-warping cyborg, a Lord of the Rings simulation gone horribly right, and people being turned into dragons by a bit more of that reality simulation gone horribly right]]. Also, in maybe the most genre-busting moment, [[spoiler:the Bannus finds itself trapped at the very last minute by a mythical representation of the English Woods, and it turns out that the mixed-up chronology of the novel is due in parts to the Woods' interference]]. Diana Wynne Jones herself is on record as having trouble with writing the novel at first, since she was convinced it ''had'' to be two separate novels that needed to be untangled, but then she realized how everything fit and we got ''Hexwood'' as the result.
* MindScrew:When we say distorts reality, we ''mean'' it.
** Well, what do you ''expect'' when you've got a [[spoiler: very angry]]Thanks to not one but ''two'' RealityWarper involved? Figurative warping fields in play at the same time, things get very confusing very quickly. Events happen out of reality?chronological order (both for the reader and the characters), the same events happen multiple times in slightly different ways, various characters turn out to not be who they appear or believed themselves to be, and each reveal makes everything more convoluted.
* MinorInjuryOverreaction: King Ambitas's "wound that won't heal", which forces him to remain bedridden, turns out to be nothing more than a nasty bruise he received just before crossing over from reality into the field of the Bannus. Mordion has to fight not to burst out laughing when he is called upon to "administer" to the wound.
* OlderThanTheyLook: [[spoiler:Hume, who spends most of the book bouncing around between the ages of five and sixteen, is actually Martellian Pender, the original Reigner One, known throughout Earth history and mythology under various guises, most notably Merlin. When he recovers his memories at the end of the book, he ages up a bit to compensate.]]
* MindScrew:
** Well, what do you ''expect'' when you've got a [[spoiler: very angry]]
* MinorInjuryOverreaction: King Ambitas's "wound that won't heal", which forces him to remain bedridden, turns out to be nothing more than a nasty bruise he received just before crossing over from reality into the field of the Bannus. Mordion has to fight not to burst out laughing when he is called upon to "administer" to the wound.
* OlderThanTheyLook: [[spoiler:Hume, who spends most of the book bouncing around between the ages of five and sixteen, is actually Martellian Pender, the original Reigner One, known throughout Earth history and mythology under various guises, most notably Merlin. When he recovers his memories at the end of the book, he ages up a bit to compensate.]]
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* OneWingedAngel: [[spoiler: Pretty much everyone turns into giant dragons for the final battle. Including the good guys.]]
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* OneWingedAngel: [[spoiler: Pretty much everyone turns Mordion and Reigner One are transformed into giant dragons for the final battle. Including the good guys.Reigners Two and Three are on their way to transforming, but only manage to grow scales and snouts before Mordion terminates them.]]
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* Psychic Link: Ann hears the voices of four other characters.
* RealityWarper: The Bannus.
* RealityWarper: The Bannus.
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* Psychic Link: Ann hears the voices of four other characters.
people from different worlds and times. She tries to convince herself that they're imaginary, but deep down she knows they're real. [[spoiler:This ability is innate to many "full-blooded" Reigners, and in the end she and the four others become the new Reigner council.]]
*RealityWarper: RealityWarper:
** TheBannus.Bannus. It was designed to be a sophisticated decision-making machine; a scenario would be presented to it, and the Bannus would alter local spacetime to act out the scenario and all possible outcomes until the desired result was found. It also has the power to [[spoiler: select new Reigners, preventing any one group from staying in control for too long]]. Because of its unreliability, it was shut down and hidden on Earth.
** A secondary reality warp field is the Woods in which most of the action takes place. It interferes with and provides assistance to the Bannus in equal measure, and makes things much more complicated than they might have been otherwise.
*
** The
** A secondary reality warp field is the Woods in which most of the action takes place. It interferes with and provides assistance to the Bannus in equal measure, and makes things much more complicated than they might have been otherwise.
* TheseAreThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow: Most of Earth has been kept in the dark about its relations with other planets because the world is simply not ready to deal with it.
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* TrainingFromHell: Boy howdy.
* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: The clerk who turns on the machine at the beginning.
* WhenSheSmiles: Mordion is a male example.
* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: The clerk who turns on the machine at the beginning.
* WhenSheSmiles: Mordion is a male example.
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* TrainingFromHell: Boy howdy.
Reigner One takes great pleasure in the training he put Mordion through as a child, which ultimately killed his five adoptive siblings. Though the other Reigners believe he is unfailingly loyal to them, Reigner One knows it took a lot of work to make him that way.
* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom:The clerk Harrison Scudamore, who turns on only wanted to use the machine at Bannus to play out a realistic fantasy war game, accidentally creates a struggle for control over most of the beginning.
known universe.
* WhenSheSmiles: Mordion is a male example. Early on, Ann notes that he is clearly well aware of the effect his smile has on others, and uses it to get what he wants.
* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom:
* WhenSheSmiles: Mordion is a male example. Early on, Ann notes that he is clearly well aware of the effect his smile has on others, and uses it to get what he wants.
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* YoungerThanTheyLook: [[spoiler:"Ann" in the first half of the book is roughly 13 years old, and acts like it. When she recovers her true identity as Vierran, a 21-year-old woman, she is mortified as she remembers the childish way she behaved when, to Mordion and Hume, she still looked like an adult.]]
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[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hexwood.jpg]]
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* RealityWarper: [[The Bannus.]]
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* RealityWarper: [[The The Bannus.]]
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* AlternateIdentityAmnesia: [[Pretty much every character.]]
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* AlternateIdentityAmnesia: [[Pretty [[spoiler:Pretty much every character.]]
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* AlternateIdentityAmnesia: [[Pretty much every character.]]
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%%* DecoyProtagonist
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* Psychic Link: Ann hears the voices of four other characters.
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* FateWorseThanDeath: What happens to the mothers of the Reigners' Servants.
* OmniscientCouncilOfVagueness: The Reigners when first introduced.
* RealityWarper: [[The Bannus.]]
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* FateWorseThanDeath: What happens to the mothers of the Reigners' Servants.
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* FateWorseThanDeath: What happens to UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: The clerk who turns on the mothers of machine at the Reigners' Servants.beginning.
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Cut trope
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* FiveBadBand: The Reigners
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Crosswicking.
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* PeopleFarms: The Reigners specifically "breed" their Servants, ordering "chosen" girls to "breed" with their Servant, and then "farming" the offspring until they find out which ones they have to [[NeverSayDie cull.]] Yes, it is freaky as all get out.
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Works are not tropes
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* ArthurianLegend: [[spoiler: 'The King' Vierran speaks to turns out to be King Arthur.]]
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Fixed a broken spoiler tag in Genre Busting.
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* GenreBusting: Asides from how the various characters seem to start out on opposite genre strands (one end is an intergalactic sci-fi; the other end is the sort of Cozy Suburban Novel where a plucky girl solves a mystery, a la Nancy Drew), this is a novel that ends up seamlessly combining [[spoiler:an intergalactic empire, a genetic engineering program, very advanced technology, King Arthur, magic, a five-brained reality-warping cyborg, a Lord of the Rings simulation gone horribly right, and people being turned into dragons by a bit more of that reality simulation gone horribly right]]. Also, in maybe the most genre-busting moment, [[spoilers:the Bannus finds itself trapped at the very last minute by a mythical representation of the English Woods, and it turns out that the mixed-up chronology of the novel is due in parts to the Woods' interference]]. Diana Wynne Jones herself is on record as having trouble with writing the novel at first, since she was convinced it ''had'' to be two separate novels that needed to be untangled, but then she realized how everything fit and we got ''Hexwood'' as the result.
to:
* GenreBusting: Asides from how the various characters seem to start out on opposite genre strands (one end is an intergalactic sci-fi; the other end is the sort of Cozy Suburban Novel where a plucky girl solves a mystery, a la Nancy Drew), this is a novel that ends up seamlessly combining [[spoiler:an intergalactic empire, a genetic engineering program, very advanced technology, King Arthur, magic, a five-brained reality-warping cyborg, a Lord of the Rings simulation gone horribly right, and people being turned into dragons by a bit more of that reality simulation gone horribly right]]. Also, in maybe the most genre-busting moment, [[spoilers:the [[spoiler:the Bannus finds itself trapped at the very last minute by a mythical representation of the English Woods, and it turns out that the mixed-up chronology of the novel is due in parts to the Woods' interference]]. Diana Wynne Jones herself is on record as having trouble with writing the novel at first, since she was convinced it ''had'' to be two separate novels that needed to be untangled, but then she realized how everything fit and we got ''Hexwood'' as the result.
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Added in Genre Busting to describe the genre-busting nature of the novel.
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* GenreBusting: Asides from how the various characters seem to start out on opposite genre strands (one end is an intergalactic sci-fi; the other end is the sort of Cozy Suburban Novel where a plucky girl solves a mystery, a la Nancy Drew), this is a novel that ends up seamlessly combining [[spoiler:an intergalactic empire, a genetic engineering program, very advanced technology, King Arthur, magic, a five-brained reality-warping cyborg, a Lord of the Rings simulation gone horribly right, and people being turned into dragons by a bit more of that reality simulation gone horribly right]]. Also, in maybe the most genre-busting moment, [[spoilers:the Bannus finds itself trapped at the very last minute by a mythical representation of the English Woods, and it turns out that the mixed-up chronology of the novel is due in parts to the Woods' interference]]. Diana Wynne Jones herself is on record as having trouble with writing the novel at first, since she was convinced it ''had'' to be two separate novels that needed to be untangled, but then she realized how everything fit and we got ''Hexwood'' as the result.
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Deleting "All Just A Dream" because that trope does not apply. All the events DID literally happen, even if the characters thought they were someone else while they were happening, and all the events have life-or-death real world consequences. A more accurate trope would be Mind Screw or Reality Warper (which are both already listed).
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* AllJustADream: [[spoiler: The entire first half of the book, pretty much.]]
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Added Shout Out trope + spoiler tags on Reigner One's fate
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* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: The Reigners. Reigner One is the only one to be named in the book (Orm Pender). May overlap with NominalImportance as he's both the most powerful and - from memory - the last to be killed.
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* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: The Reigners. Reigner One is the only one to be named in the book (Orm Pender). May overlap with NominalImportance as he's both the most powerful and - from memory - the [[spoiler:the last to be killed.killed]].
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* ShoutOut: Reigner One's real name, Orm Pender, references [[spoiler: Orm, the first dragon, and the island of Pendor, in the Literature/{{Earthsea}} trilogy]], which also makes it a MeaningfulName.
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* DecoyProtagonist
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Added a trope
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* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: The Reigners. Reigner One is the only one to be named in the book (Orm Pender). May overlap with NominalImportance as he's both the most powerful and - from memory - the last to be killed.
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* EvilOldFolks
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* EvilOldFolksEvilOldFolks: Reigner One.
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* ExactWords: Frequently used by [[spoiler:the Bannus]]. For example, [[spoiler:the creative way it circumvents the obligation laid on Vierran to "make a child" with Mordion]].
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Tropes include:
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* [[WhenSheSmiles When He Smiles]]: Mordion
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* [[WhenSheSmiles When He Smiles]]: MordionWhenSheSmiles: Mordion is a male example.
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A novel by Creator/DianaWynneJones. A powerful magical artifact from the center of the galaxy, buried on Earth, becomes active and distorts reality in its neighborhood.
----
Tropes include:
* AllJustADream: [[spoiler: The entire first half of the book, pretty much.]]
* AffablyEvil: Reigner One.
* AnachronicOrder: The second mini-chapter takes place near what is chronologically the end of the book. [[spoiler: And Vierran's introduction and visit to Earth actually takes place chronologically before the entire first half of the book.]] To be fair, there's an in-story reason for that.
** To be precise, the chapters really occur in chronological order, but the Bannus is [[spoiler:blanking out people's memories and rerunning the scenario repeatedly in order to get the outcome it desires.]]
--->"This wood," Yam told him, "is like human memory. It does not need to take events in their correct order."
* ArthurianLegend: [[spoiler: 'The King' Vierran speaks to turns out to be King Arthur.]]
* TheBaroness: Reigner Three.
* BigScrewedUpFamily: [[spoiler:Practically ''everyone'' is distantly related to Martellian Pender, the previous First Reigner.]] Ironically enough, the only two major characters who probably ''aren't'' -- Reigners Three and Four -- are sister and brother.
* TheChessmaster: [[spoiler:Yam/the Bannus]]
* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: Once [[spoiler: the Bannus's plot]] kicks into action, the Reigners are too busy trying to wipe each other out to wonder what's ''really'' going on.
* DecoyProtagonist
* FiveBadBand: The Reigners
* GambitRoulette: [[spoiler: Yam. He says it himself, pretty much:]]
---> [[spoiler: '''Yam:''' I wish you to know that every one of my six-hundred and ninety-seven plans of action was designed to end in your death.]]
* MindScrew: When we say distorts reality, we ''mean'' it.
** Well, what do you ''expect'' when you've got a [[spoiler: very angry]] RealityWarper involved? Figurative warping of reality?
* OneWingedAngel: [[spoiler: Pretty much everyone turns into giant dragons for the final battle. Including the good guys.]]
* SmugSnake: Reigner Four.
* TomatoInTheMirror: [[spoiler: "Ann Stavely"/Vierran Guaranty]]
* TrainingFromHell: Boy howdy.
* FateWorseThanDeath: What happens to the mothers of the Reigners' Servants.
* [[WhenSheSmiles When He Smiles]]: Mordion
* WorthlessYellowRocks: Flint, from Earth, is valuable elsewhere in the universe.
----
----
Tropes include:
* AllJustADream: [[spoiler: The entire first half of the book, pretty much.]]
* AffablyEvil: Reigner One.
* AnachronicOrder: The second mini-chapter takes place near what is chronologically the end of the book. [[spoiler: And Vierran's introduction and visit to Earth actually takes place chronologically before the entire first half of the book.]] To be fair, there's an in-story reason for that.
** To be precise, the chapters really occur in chronological order, but the Bannus is [[spoiler:blanking out people's memories and rerunning the scenario repeatedly in order to get the outcome it desires.]]
--->"This wood," Yam told him, "is like human memory. It does not need to take events in their correct order."
* ArthurianLegend: [[spoiler: 'The King' Vierran speaks to turns out to be King Arthur.]]
* TheBaroness: Reigner Three.
* BigScrewedUpFamily: [[spoiler:Practically ''everyone'' is distantly related to Martellian Pender, the previous First Reigner.]] Ironically enough, the only two major characters who probably ''aren't'' -- Reigners Three and Four -- are sister and brother.
* TheChessmaster: [[spoiler:Yam/the Bannus]]
* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: Once [[spoiler: the Bannus's plot]] kicks into action, the Reigners are too busy trying to wipe each other out to wonder what's ''really'' going on.
* DecoyProtagonist
* FiveBadBand: The Reigners
* GambitRoulette: [[spoiler: Yam. He says it himself, pretty much:]]
---> [[spoiler: '''Yam:''' I wish you to know that every one of my six-hundred and ninety-seven plans of action was designed to end in your death.]]
* MindScrew: When we say distorts reality, we ''mean'' it.
** Well, what do you ''expect'' when you've got a [[spoiler: very angry]] RealityWarper involved? Figurative warping of reality?
* OneWingedAngel: [[spoiler: Pretty much everyone turns into giant dragons for the final battle. Including the good guys.]]
* SmugSnake: Reigner Four.
* TomatoInTheMirror: [[spoiler: "Ann Stavely"/Vierran Guaranty]]
* TrainingFromHell: Boy howdy.
* FateWorseThanDeath: What happens to the mothers of the Reigners' Servants.
* [[WhenSheSmiles When He Smiles]]: Mordion
* WorthlessYellowRocks: Flint, from Earth, is valuable elsewhere in the universe.
----
