History Literature / RowanOfRin

* FaceYourFears: The Mountain forces the seven who climb it to each face the thing they fear most, from spiders to {{claustrophobia}} to the loss of loved ones. One by one, they each find that there's something they can't handle. Rowan, who fears ''everything'' and continues anyway, is the only reason they ultimately succeed.

* TheBigGuy: Strong Jonn.

* ActionMom: Jiller. She was fully prepared to go into battle against the Zebak in the fourth book, takes up the role of Chooser without complaint or fear, and is as brave and strong as the average Rin villager. As seen in AdultFear below, she also deals with a ''lot'' over the course of the series, mostly with regard to her children's safety.
* AdultFear: Your village risks extinction or being forced to leave because of some unknown natural force, and your shy, terrified son is forced to go on a long, treacherous journey to fix the problem, where he may well die.
** You have to fulfil your family's obligations to your allies, but doing so puts you and your son in danger from people who, if they decide to, will certainly kill you or him to get what they want, and you can't get out of it.
** Your people's ancient enemies suddenly return and kidnap your young daughter, and your options are giving her up for dead or letting your son go into enemy territory to try to get her back.
** Your village is forced to move or risk extinction because of an unknown natural force ''again'', and your son decides to stay to try to fix it, but he has little to work with and only a few allies, and the situation gets worse by the hour.

* ''Rowan of the Bukshah''

** Also Doss destroying the Zebak invasion fleet in ''Keeper of the Crystal''.

** Rowan is almost forced to become Keeper of the Crystal himself in the third book after Doss turns out to have been a Zebak-controlled traitor, and though he is very reluctant he is willing to make the sacrifice if it means preventing a Zebak invasion from occurring. Luckily, he realises just in time that the Crystal is more powerful than any Zebak magic trick, meaning that no Keeper of the Crystal would ever betray Maris to the Zebak, willingly or not, thus eliminating the threat Doss poses to the Maris people.

* PsychicLink: After the events of the third book, Rowan and Doss, the new Keeper of the Crystal, can communicate with each other through a mental link.

* SpottingTheThread: In ''Rowan And The Keeper Of The Crystal'', Doss tells a story about how a year before the story's events, he and his family were out in a boat, the boat sank and the Great Serpent nearly killed him. [[spoiler:Rowan later realises that at that time every year, the Great Serpent is on land laying its eggs, so Doss couldn't have seen it.]]

* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: Each of the main characters has their own 'snake' to face over the course of the journey. [[spoiler:Except Rowan, who thinks of ''everything'' as a 'snake' and has faced them every day.]]

* ActionMom: Jiller. She was fully prepared to go into battle against the Zebak in the fourth book, and is as brave and strong as the average Rin villager.

** Being different from everyone else isn't a bad thing.

* BetterToDieThanBeKilled: It's revealed in ''Rowan And The Zebak'' that not all of the people of Rin's ancestors escaped the Zebak's clutches; those who were left behind slowly wasted away and didn't have children. Rowan realises upon hearing this that they must have felt that death was better than slavery and having children who would be slaves.

* HappinessInSlavery: Averted with Shaaran, Norris and Thiery of the Silk. When Rowan and his companions arrive in the Zebak slave quarters to rescue Annad, Shaaran and Thiery quickly accept Rowan's offer to set them free as well. The only reason Norris refuses it at first is because of a fear of being discovered and punished for attempting to escape, and not because he actually wanted to stay in slavery.

* KlingonScientistsGetNoRespect: It's revealed that Rin used to have both artists and warriors, who lived in harmony despite their differences. In the present day, almost all of the villagers are the warrior type, while the artist types are shunned for being weaker and usually wind up as carers of the bukshah, because it's a job that doesn't require strength.

* TheNeedsOfTheMany: The Maris believe that one person's death is of no matter if it serves the greater good. Rowan doesn't agree.

* PropheticFallacy: ''All the time''. Sheba's riddles tend to be cryptic, and the characters spend a lot of time trying to figure out what they mean. And even when they're actually straightforward, the characters often misinterpret them. For example, in ''Rowan of Rin'', one verse says to 'let your guide be made of wood'. The group interpret that as meaning 'let the most cool and unemotional person go first', what it actually meant was 'use a stick to find where you can walk through the swamp'.

** Shaaran can be said to have gone through this, as well. She starts off as a girl who is afraid of the ''bukshah'' and known for weeping often and having a soft heart, but in the end proves to be as determined and courageous as most of Rin, and does not falter even once during their final quest. When Rowan, Zeel and Norris decide to sacrifice themselves as they believe Sheba's riddle asks it of them, Shaaran vehemently tells them that this cannot be what the riddle had in mind, as she cannot believe that the Mountain would want others to die so that its hunger can be sated. [[spoiler: She was right.]] It is Shaaran who leads Rowan to the true meaning of the final riddle in the quest.

* ProphecyFallacy: ''All the time''. Sheba's riddles tend to be cryptic, and the characters spend a lot of time trying to figure out what they mean. And even when they're actually straightforward, the characters often misinterpret them. For example, in ''Rowan of Rin'', one verse says to 'let your guide be made of wood'. The group interpret that as meaning 'let the most cool and unemotional person go first', what it actually meant was 'use a stick to find where you can walk through the swamp'.

* WouldHitAGirl: In Rowan and the Travelers, Rowan physically attacks [[spoiler: Zeel]], thinking she's a spy for the Zebak. There doesn't seem to be any set gendered jobs. Both men and women farm, build, fight and cook.

* TheBigGuy: Strong Jonn
* BrokenBird: Zeel

* DeadpanSnarker: Allun

* EeriePaleSkinnedBrunette: Shaaran

* HeroicSacrifice: Thiery of the Silk willingly gives his own life so that his grandchildren, Rowan, Allun, Zeel, Annad and Perlain can use Unos the grach to escape from the Zebak. He had sworn to the Zebak that as long as he was alive, Unos would never fly. After his death, Unos was released from it.

* LaserGuidedAmnesia: What happened to [[spoiler: the warrior slaves that were sent to the Maris continent to help with a Zebak invasion]], courtesy of the Zebak. It was meant to make them more obedient and focused on the war. [[spoiler: It didn't work.]]

-->'''Rowan (thinking):''' The ancient enemy...is ''here''.

* TakeOffYourClothes: Strong Jonn, Marlie, and Rowan just swam through an underground ice-cold lake, and on the other side Marlie is all businesslike about, "Let's change clothes immediately so we don't get sick." — but Rowan just utterly refuses. Marlie's astounded by this: the whole crux of the plot is about overcoming fear, and they've been through X number of horribly frightening things so far, and how can Rowan think this is a big deal? But Strong Jonn knowingly tells Marlie to turn her back so that modesty can be preserved.

A series by Emily Rodda, author of ''Literature/DeltoraQuest''. It follows the adventures of a young boy named Rowan, who is considered quite an oddity in his village of Rin because he is small, weak and cowardly compared to the tall, strong and fearless people which live there. One day, however, the stream which runs through the village dries up, and six brave villagers set out on a quest to the Mountain to restore it. However, they have been given a map which only Rowan can read, so Rowan accompanies them, and it soon turns out that Rowan is the person the six heroes need most of all...

* OhCrap: In ''Rowan and the Travelers'', Sheba's prophecy warns of an "ancient enemy" that is coming. Rowan spends the whole book on the lookout for it and then realizes [[spoiler: that the berries Allun brought down the mountain grow into carnivorous trees that destroyed a city once before...and that ''everyone in the village'' has a garden full of them.]]

* CanonWelding: Rowan of Rin is confirmed to take place in the same universe as ''Literature/DeltoraQuest'' and its related books, but as of yet there has been no relevant interaction between the two stories. [[spoiler:Rin is briefly visited in the ''Star of Deltora'' series, but the ship is turned away by the Maris.]]

* CanonWelding: Rowan of Rin is confirmed to take place in the same universe as ''Literature/DeltoraQuest'' and its related books, but as of yet there has been no relevant interaction between the two stories. [[spoiler: That may change if it is visited in the Star of Deltora Series.]]