History Literature / KittyNorville

* NunsNRosaries[=/=]HollywoodNuns: Cormac expects Sister Hilda to have the typical black-and-white habit and veil/headdress "like in the movies" and is bemused that she doesn't.

* [[ArtisticLicenseReligion You Fail Mythological Studies Forever]]--In-story, selkies, since the government studying them lumps them in with wereseals when they are actually a type of fae creature.

* TheHerosJourney: Kitty's journey has been very bumpy and not followed every step of the structure, although she has experienced TheCallKnowsWhereYouLive, tried [[RefusalOfTheCall refusing it]], and has eventually become [[ResignedToTheCall resigned to it]]; she's also encountered the usual MentorOccupationalHazard, her [[TheExile exile]] would probably count as Crossing the Threshold, and any number of moments could be considered her [[CantRefuseTheCallAnymore spiritual rebirth]]--nearly being sacrificed by the Band of Tiamat, the experience at the Montana cabin, even her televised Change way back in book two. But book twelve contains the most explicit references.

** Or most of them anyway--whenever Kitty hears of a new type of supernatural creature or magic, or encounters a ConspiracyTheorist, inevitably the creature/magic/theory turns out to be real, if not quite what the {{bowdlerise}}d versions [[MetaphoricallyTrue would make her]] [[SadlyMythtaken believe them to be]]. While the FantasyKitchenSink of the series makes this trope fairly self-evident, a particularly effective and even insightful explanation (aside from the {{masquerade}}) for [[LegendFadesToMyth why this is the case]], yet nobody knows about it, is given in book two when Ahmed explains that [[BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy Daniel of the lion's den was really a werelion]] and Enkidu of ''[[Literature/TheEpicOfGilgamesh Gilgamesh]]'' was a werecreature as well.

* OurAngelsAreDifferent: [[spoiler:Appearing as TheMenInBlack who apparently enjoy acting innocent and unaware of things in the world, and who [[GodsHandsAreTied cannot intervene often]] except to nudge mortals a bit and provide protection when matters have become too unbalanced and unfair.]] Kitty thinks the mythology around them, like so much else in her world, is [[SadlyMythtaken faulty, incomplete, or just plain wrong]], but considering she [[AFormYouAreComfortableWith never saw them in their true forms]] and doesn't really know how much of ''Literature/ParadiseLost'' is true, she can't really be sure of this.

* TheHighQueen: Alette, although she seems to have hints of TheWomanWearingTheQueenlyMask as well.

* GoodGuyBar[=/=]TruceZone: Ahmed's restaurant the Crescent, where all manner of lycanthropes can mingle and interact without territory, dominance, or conflict arising. It inspires Kitty to create one of her own after she takes over the Denver pack, New Moon. Shaun, its proprietor, even lampshades its nature by referring to it as "[[Film/{{Casablanca}} Rick's Cafe]]" (prompting a brief bit of InUniverse [[NamesTheSame confusion on her part]] with vampire ally Rick).

%%* ThoseWackyNazis: Fritz's backstory

** AwesomeMcCoolName: Regina Luporum ("Queen of the wolves")

* GoodPeopleHaveGoodSex: Compare Kitty's scenes with Luis (and [[spoiler:Ben]]) to [[RomanticizedAbuse those with Carl]]...

* SmugSnake: Harold Franklin.

* SuperpoweredEvilSide

* ThoseWackyNazis: Fritz's backstory

* CorruptHick: Sheriff Marks

* FamilyUnfriendlyViolence[=/=][[FamilyUnfriendlyDeath Death]]: Unsurprisingly there's a lot of this throughout the series, but notable examples would be Meg and especially Carl's death, Arturo's death, and Mick's death. The whole slew of deaths in ''House of Horrors'' takes this UpToEleven, but among those [[spoiler:Jerome, Lee, and Gemma]] stand out. Jan's death also counts. And unsurprisingly, Roman suffers the former trope thanks to [[spoiler:[[HoistByHisOwnPetard the backblast from the Manus Herculei]]]].

** Break out in hives and die from exposure to sunlight, crosses, and holy water. Wooden stake through the chest kills. Need blood to regenerate injuries, can hypnotize anyone that looks directly into their eyes. The hypnosis can be broken (and they themselves can be paralyzed) if you pray or otherwise speak holy words in their presence, and they cannot speak such words at all. [[spoiler:Unless you have HeroicWillpower, like Rick.]] If you're drained dry, you come back as a vampire later. Much faster than humans, and can teleport through shadows if the way Mercedes and Ned appear and disappear out of nowhere, and how Ned finds Jan hiding in them, is any indication. [[spoiler: They can show up in mirrors and photos, or decide not to. And much older, more powerful vampires can apparently [[UpToEleven make lesser ones]] ''sweat blood''.]]

* RunningGag: People continually [[LampshadeHanging pointing out]] Kitty's IronicName. Even ''[[spoiler:Lucifer]]'' [[UpToEleven gets in on the act]], although only by hoping she didn't choose her IronicName on purpose [[ItsAllAboutMe just to spite him]]. In book ten, there's also Kitty's not having written her keynote address, and being asked about it by everyone she knows.

[[SomethingCompletelyDifferent A solo adventure]] [[ADayInTheLimelight starring]] [[EnsembleDarkhorse Cormac]]:

* MailerDaemon: Downplayed, but it turns out that the helpful, knowledgeable magic-user who aids Cormac [[spoiler:and Amelia]] via e-mail in figuring out what happened to Crane and Kuzniak (and indirectly stop Layne's plot and obtain Zora's code) is [[spoiler:Roman]]. The usual danger of the trope doesn't appear, although before the reveal is made, [[spoiler:Amelia does get rather gushy and blushing over him and his "brilliance", extremely eager and impatient to get back to the computer to converse with him, and even after the reveal mentions wanting to ask him questions at their meeting before Cormac firmly insists this is a stake first, no questions later situation]]. To be fair, [[spoiler:Amelia]] did not seem to truly fall under his sway or lose their level-headed nature, just become excited about the magical possibilities; on the other hand, the meeting arranged for the last book is one Cormac worries could very well end in his death (and it does turn out to be quite dangerous).

** While all of the cult members in ''Kitty in the Underworld'' have significant names of supernatural entities that [[MeaningfulRename they gave themselves]] as part of their ritual, one has an additional layer to its meaning: Kumarbis is one letter away from Kumarbi, a Hurrian and Hittite deity who was considered a father and king of gods. This not only indicates exactly how old the vampire was (and most likely his place of origin), it certainly implies something [[ItsAllAboutMe about his self-image]] that fits his rather arrogant and condescending attitude, especially toward Kitty.

** Not only does Kitty keep herself sane while imprisoned by thinking of famous pieces of literature and mythology to compare her ordeal to (particularly Persephone and Innana), she has embarked on both the Road of Trials and a Night Sea Voyage: she's gone into the underworld in a sense ([[DoubleMeaningTitle hence the book title]]), encountered shapeshifters (including one associated with an Egyptian goddess), and she seeks knowledge/wisdom against the BigBad. She gets it, too--not just Dux Bellorum's [[StartOfDarkness backstory]] and [[spoiler:[[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt true]] [[TakeOverTheWorld motivation]]]], but the literal gift of knowledge contained in Zora's flash drive, her Book of Shadows. Another Night Sea Voyage occurs in the last book when Kitty and Ben must try to sneak into Obsidian to find the Manus Herculei. [[spoiler:They fail.]] Technically all of ''Low Midnight'' is a BreatherEpisode for Kitty, but there's also a brief one when she and her allies are staying at a motel [[spoiler:in Yellowstone]] and planning the FinalBattle.

** One other interesting parallel is set up through Amelia: aside from her [[IDidWhatIHadToDo being willing to do unscrupulous things to achieve her ends]], at various points when the reader gets in her head it's revealed how she is so hungry and eager for magical knowledge that she comes across as greedy, troubling, and even unlikable, particularly in [[{{Pride}} how entitled to it all she acts]] (such as when trying to obtain knowledge of Native American rituals). This is especially true in ''Low Midnight'' where both her desire for Kuzniak's Book of Shadows and the amulet seem quite unsettling and off-putting, and where her claims she is doing this "because it's the right thing to do" and such things shouldn't be left in Layne's hands seem like justifications to disguise her power-mongering; it's telling that Judi and Frida both think at first [[spoiler:Cormac wants the code to Zora's Book of Shadows for Amelia rather than for any altruistic motive, and she can't quite deny it]]. She is even willing at one point to [[AdmiringTheAbomination try and learn from Roman]] just because of the kind of knowledge he possesses! The key differences which separate her from Roman however are that she is clearly quite determined to save and protect the world; her desire for knowledge comes not from wanting to dominate but [[ToBeAMaster simply being an obsessed academic who loves and admires every magical thing she comes across]]; and the fact she pulls back from doing things the way Roman would have and thus subverts ScrewTheRulesIHaveSupernaturalPowers. So in the end her ambition, while a bit excessive at times, turns out not to be evil and in fact quite helpful at various points.

** Cormac was on the verge of becoming this as well, before he met Kitty, thanks to GoodIsNotNice (or [[GoodIsNotSoft Soft]]). In "God's Creatures" he explicitly compares himself to the werewolf he is hunting, noting how the people he helps are no more comfortable in his presence than they are with the "monsters", that they are [[{{Foil}} two sides]] [[EvilCounterpart of the same coin]], and that while the monster he's hunting hasn't killed anybody (yet), he has killed many times.

* MeaningfulRename: Kumarbis renames the members of his cult (and possibly himself too, though his would be an aspect of being TheAtoner) to reflect the names of the deities/mystical beings they are supposed to be channeling or becoming avatars of; much significance is made of whether Kitty will [[BecomingTheMask accept]] [[InsistentTerminology her new name/identity]] as Regina Luporum, whether Sakhmet and the others [[ThatManIsDead should tell her]] their former "mortal" names, and accidental (or not-so-accidental) slips when she is called Kitty. In the end this leads to both a very emotional SayMyName [[spoiler:when Sakhmet finally [[YouCalledMeXItMustBeSerious calls Enkidu by his original name]] as he dies in her arms]] and Sakhmet eventually confessing her original name--partly because the ritual is ruined and can never be performed again but also because Kitty has helped remind her of who she used to be and inspired her to embrace her old self once more.

* BuryYourGays: [[spoiler:StraightGay T.J. gets StuffedIntoTheFridge, by the straight man he once loved. Ouch. No other openly gay or lesbian characters show up.]] However, it should be noted that this definitely falls under the example of a character who does not die because of his gayness or to teach something, not to mention this is only one example among [[AnyoneCanDie many deaths]] in the series. His death is more strictly speaking an example of MentorOccupationalHazard, and Carrie Vaughn notes in the afterword to ''Kitty's Greatest Hits'' that she only made [[spoiler:T.J.]] gay to keep readers from shipping him with Kitty, then to display a non-stereotypical tough gay character.

* BittersweetEnding: In "Wild Ride", T.J. becomes a werewolf [[EmergencyTransformation to become cured of HIV]], and ends up finally finding a place to belong, a family of sorts, after his own [[IHaveNoSon threw him out for being gay]]. But...in order to have health and safety with the pack, he must give up all autonomy, become submissive to his alpha, and he has essentially traded one incurable disease for another. So he stands up for himself, rejects his pack, and strikes out on his own to be brave and independent. [[spoiler:But thanks to DramaticIrony, the reader already knows that his decision leads to Colorado, Carl, and his death.]] Kitty thinks, when she learns his BelatedBackstory, "[[WasItReallyWorthIt Was it worth it, T.J.?]]" Chances are he would say it was, but there was still a sad price.

* BelatedBackstory:
** For Rick, Ben and Cormac, and T.J. in ''Kitty's Greatest Hits''.
** We finally learn Hardin's in the last book, insomuch as how she got on the path of becoming a cop and taking a stand against evil and wrong.

--->''This was thousands of years ago, remember. [[InHarmonyWithNature Humankind and animalkind were closer then--our years in the Garden together were not so long ago. And our kind, the lycanthropes, were the bridge between the two]]...[[EarthThatUsedToBeBetter It saddens me that the tribes in this country do not tell the old tales to one another]]. [[NotSoDifferent If we gathered to tell stories and drink more, there would not be so much fighting, yes?]]''

** [[NotSoDifferent One other interesting parallel]] is set up through Amelia: aside from her [[IDidWhatIHadToDo being willing to do unscrupulous things to achieve her ends]], at various points when the reader gets in her head it's revealed how she is so hungry and eager for magical knowledge that she comes across as greedy, troubling, and even unlikable, particularly in [[{{Pride}} how entitled to it all she acts]] (such as when trying to obtain knowledge of Native American rituals). This is especially true in ''Low Midnight'' where both her desire for Kuzniak's Book of Shadows and the amulet seem quite unsettling and off-putting, and where her claims she is doing this "because it's the right thing to do" and such things shouldn't be left in Layne's hands seem like justifications to disguise her power-mongering; it's telling that Judi and Frida both think at first [[spoiler:Cormac wants the code to Zora's Book of Shadows for Amelia rather than for any altruistic motive, and she can't quite deny it]]. She is even willing at one point to [[AdmiringTheAbomination try and learn from Roman]] just because of the kind of knowledge he possesses! The key differences which separate her from Roman however are that she is clearly quite determined to save and protect the world; her desire for knowledge comes not from wanting to dominate but [[ToBeAMaster simply being an obsessed academic who loves and admires every magical thing she comes across]]; and the fact she pulls back from doing things the way Roman would have and thus subverts ScrewTheRulesIHaveSupernaturalPowers. So in the end her ambition, while a bit excessive at times, turns out not to be evil and in fact quite helpful at various points.

* TheCallKnowsWhereYouLive: True to form, despite Kitty's constant cries of IJustWantToBeNormal and her determination to stay neutral and out of trouble, fate will not allow her such an out. Aside from being a WeirdnessMagnet, her determination to on the one hand be a voice of reason, understanding, and tolerance to bridge the human and supernatural worlds and on the other hand [[ChronicHeroSyndrome her inability to cease helping those who are in danger or trying to remain human]] has continually thrust her and those she cares about into the limelight, and the target crosshairs. This particularly is true in book four, when despite attempting not to take sides between Rick and Arturo she ends up trying to help the young abused omega Jenny (because she's heartbreakingly NotSoDifferent from what Kitty herself used to be)...and when Jenny breaks down and begs Carl for help, he kills her for daring to leave him. And once this galvanizes Kitty to action, she quickly finds that KNOB, her family, and [[spoiler:Ben]] will all be in danger from Carl, Meg, and Arturo if she does not accept the mantle of pack alpha and take them out once and for all.

** Cormac was on the verge of becoming this as well, before he met Kitty, thanks to GoodIsNotNice (or [[GoodIsNotSoft Soft]]). In "God's Creatures" [[NotSoDifferent he explicitly compares himself]] to the werewolf he is hunting, noting how the people he helps are no more comfortable in his presence than they are with the "monsters", that they are [[{{Foil}} two sides]] [[EvilCounterpart of the same coin]], and that while the monster he's hunting hasn't killed anybody (yet), he has killed many times.

* BritainIsOnlyLondon: Justified, since the supernatural conference is held in a hotel right in the heart of the city, so not only will all the usual sights and landmarks appear, there's no reason to travel outside the city to see the rest of the country. Kitty even lampshades the trope, and compares it to BigApplesauce and SoCalization, when noting how familiar Central London seems to her from the movies. Despite all this, very few landmarks or famous places are actually visited during her time there. On a side note, the fact that only the London clan of lycanthropes is mentioned is also justified: due to the small size of the British Isles, it was decided centuries ago to have the clans of Scotland, Ireland, Wales, and the rest of England join together as one giant clan headed by the alpha of London, so as to protect themselves from Europe's vampires and humans alike.

* BadassGay: T.J.

* AlmostKiss: [[spoiler:Cormac and Amelia experience this inside his mind, during their EurekaMoment about Kuzniak's death, the amulet and how to get it back from Layne.]]

* AngelUnaware: [[spoiler:TheMenInBlack from the last book.]]

** This is also how Kitty's show got started in the first place: talking about the Weekly World News's "Bat Boy" and other supernatural "sightings", and wondering whether they were real and it was all a cover-up. (Which comes back in a great BrickJoke at the end of book one: [[spoiler:Bat-Boy is stated on the cover of Weekly World News to be appearing on Kitty's show.]])

* TheCuckoolanderWasRight: [[spoiler:TheFundamentalist insisting that vampires and lycanthropes were created by Lucifer to pervert God's creation turns out to be absolutely correct. And while he was wrong to think this meant supernaturals were intrinsically the Devil's creatures and thus evils that had to be eradicated, that ''was'' Lucifer's original intention, one he is very put out at having thwarted.]]

* DiedInYourArmsTonight: [[spoiler:Enkidu, in Sakhmet's.]]

* EldritchAbomination: [[spoiler:Found within/beyond Grant's cabinet.]]

* FantasticRomance: Different from most examples, but it's still pretty fantastic to develop romantic feelings for [[spoiler:[[BoyMeetsGhoul not just a ghost]], but one [[BodySurf possessing your own body]].]] On the one hand, its very nature means both that it's very likely LoveCannotOvercome (seeing as they probably can't consummate it in any way) and that the logistics and weirdness of it all means it has to be a SecretRelationship. Despite this, what makes it work is the gradual, natural build-up to it (OppositesAttract and LikeAnOldMarriedCouple leading to LonelyTogether, and finally a mutual YouAreNotAlone that keeps either of them from being AloneAmongTheCouples) and that it manages to be by turns sweet, heartwarming, SlapSlapKiss, BroodingBoyGentleGirl, and even shades of LadyAndKnight. Whether fans embrace it or not, [[spoiler:Cormac and Amelia]] is certainly an unusual and memorable pairing.

** The fact the call which first got Kitty's show her big break involved her giving advice to a Catholic vampire, using ''Literature/ParadiseLost'' as a source, becomes an incredible piece of long-range foreshadowing (as well as BookEnds of a sort): [[spoiler:not only does Lucifer himself appear in the last book, along with ranks of fallen angels straight from Milton, but the advice she gives that first vampire, and to all her callers, turns out to be the very thing that stops Lucifer from achieving victory--to seek forgiveness, never give up, and keep retaining their humanity.]] Just goes to show how much Vaughn had planned ahead!

* [[ImDyingPleaseTakeMyMacguffin I'm Dying, Please Take my MacGuffin]]: [[spoiler:Zora's flash drive.]]

* LawOfInverseFertility:
** [[spoiler:Kitty had never even given any thought to motherhood and whether she wanted children. But finding out she'd had a miscarriage and that, due to the Change, no female werewolf can ''ever'' carry a baby to term, naturally leads her into a great deal of WhatIf daydreaming, a lot of research to try and find a solution, and desperate hoping that someday science will have the answer--and even as late as ''Kitty Steals the Show'', she was willing to use the fae's wish to become pregnant, despite knowing TheFairFolk's [[JerkassGenie nature]]. It didn't help that her mother had also been telling her IWantGrandkids.]] The resultant {{Angst}} is played quite realistically, and is effectively heartbreaking as well.
** It turns out Kitty's constant dwelling on this was actually a ChekhovsGun, since [[spoiler:the angels allow her and Ben to have a child through an amulet that keeps her human for a year and a day]].

* ParttimeHero:

* PhysicalGod: [[spoiler:The Monkey King and the Queen Mother of the West.]]

* RedemptionEqualsDeath: [[spoiler:Walters. Damn it.]]

* TalkingDownTheSuicidal: Thankfully Kitty has not yet had to do this for one of her callers, on-air or otherwise, but she did have to for [[spoiler:Sergeant Tyler]] thanks to fears of [[WhatHaveIBecome What Will I Become?]]. And it's one of the more riveting and powerful scenes in the series.

** Of a different nature, [[spoiler:Ozzie]], who refuses to believe Kitty's expos&eacute of the Long Game and only seems to care about [[OnlyInItForTheMoney the show and its sponsors]].

** Of a different nature, [[spoiler:Ozzie]], who refuses to believe Kitty's expose of the Long Game and only seems to care about [[OnlyInItForTheMoney the show and its sponsors]].