History Literature / TaraDuncan

%%* ThreeAmigos: Tara, Sparrow, and Cal.

* NotUsingtheZWord: Tara is offended when Sandra calls her a witch, since "spellbinders" are apparently a different thing entirely, which is true in the books, where witches - male and female - are a group of evil magic users who have green skin, wear pointy hats and ride flying brooms.

The second series, this time done in [[AllCGICartoon CGI]], was produced by Princess Sam Pictures [[SelfAdaptation (who's CEO is Sophie herself!)]] and premiered on Creator/DisneyChannel in france on December 4, 2021.

* GeneticEngineeringIsTheNewNuke: [[spoiler:It is revealed in Book 5 that the reason behind Tara's godlike magic the result of genetic engineering Dragons have secretly subjected the Imperial family to ever since it was established after Demiderius. However, since they planned to use her for their evil projects, they gave her much stronger magic than any of her ancestors, outmatching her father already as an ''infant''. Later, she refuses to have her children undergo the same process despite the fact that the Dragons have been doing it successfully since the dawn of time, which result in two very frustrated teenagers with subpar magic, with one terribly envious of his mother's magic.]]

* HalfIdenticalTwins: Mara and Jar, [[spoiler:Tara's long lost younger siblings]], are a prime example of this, being carbon copy of each other, only with opposite genders. [[spoiler: Adverted with Tara's children, who despite being twins of opposite gender, have very distinct personalities and look nothing like each other, but being carbon copies of their parent of the opposite gender. Celia is a carbon copy of Cal before Tara used her magic to make him fit her preferences without his consent.]]

* PlanetaryRomance: Autremonde (Otherworld) is more of this than AnotherDimension because it's really another planet (even if it's reached via CoolGate).The dragons's planet counts too.
* PolarOppositeTwins: [[spoiler:Dan and Celia are this, not only in looks and gender but also in personality. And as anyone would expect of this trope, Celia turns out to be the shy and soft twin with low self-esteem while Dan is hotheaded, courageous and impulsive who is envious of his mother's magic. The only thing they agree on is that Tagon, the city where Tara sent them to live in, is boring, but Celia would rather live in Paris or NYC while Dan prefers to live adventures in Autremonde]]

* PlanetaryRomance: Autremonde (Otherworld) is more of this than AnotherDimension because it's really another planet * {{Pegasus}}: Galant, Tara's familiar, isn't only a {{Familiar}} pegasus, he's the only one with magic powers, which adds another level to his mistress' specialness.
(even if it's reached via CoolGate).The dragons's planet counts too.

* CoolPet: Galant, Tara's familiar, isn't only a {{Familiar}} {{Pegasus}}, he's the only one with magic powers, which adds another level to his mistress' specialness.

* PlanetaryRomance: Autremonde (Otherworld) is more of this than AnotherDimension because it's really another planet (even if it's reached via CoolGate).The dragons's planet counts too.

An AnimatedAdaptation of the same name[[note]]Was also known as ''Tara Duncan: The Evil Empress'' in the US.[[/note]] was produced by Moonscoop. The series premiered on 27 June 2010 in France on Creator/DisneyXD, and ended in 2011 with 26 episodes and no second season. In the US, the series was made available on Creator/{{Kabillion}}'s VOD service. It [[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCa443lxQdFNvmJSyEadj67w can be legally watched here]].

[[folder:TV Series]]

** ZigZaggingTrope: [[spoiler: She loses weight and her glasses in book five during her imprisonment. Back on Earth her parents notice she's now a [[UnfortunateImplication "gorgeous young lady."]] Then she regains her weight and everyone is praising Jar for taking interest in her despite her not being a standard beauty.]]

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: New characters are added in every book, and they are all encountered again in later ones.

* AlphaBitch: Angelica.

* BigBad: Magister.

* LongRunningBookSeries: Each book is a {{Doorstopper}}.

* SpinOffspring: [[spoiler: Dan and Celia]] are this.

* AlphaBitch: Sandra.

* AnimatedAdaptation
* AnotherDimension: Otherworld
* BlondeBrunetteRedhead: Tara, Sparrow, and Fafnir.
* CuteWitch: Tara.

* MonsterOfTheWeek
* [[NotUsingtheZWord Not Using the W Word]]: Tara is offended when Sandra calls her a witch, since "spellbinders" are apparently a different thing entirely, which is true in the books, where witches - male and female - are a group of evil magic users who have green skin, wear pointy hats and ride flying brooms.
* OldMaster: Master Chem

* ProperLady: Tara's grandmother, Isabella.
* SignificantGreenEyedRedhead: Fafnir.
* TomboyAndGirlyGirl: Tara and Sparrow, respectively.
* ThreeAmigos: Tara, Sparrow, and Cal.

* StrangledByTheRedString:
** Sylver and Fafnir. The two had had only a handful of conversations about their shared dwarven heritage when suddenly a device in which dwarves are bonded to their one true love similarly to ''Twilight's'' infamous imprinting method is brought up. Sylver isn't even a dwarf and shouldn't even be subject to this, but this is Handwaved as it still working on him due to being raised by them. The two kiss, are bonded to each other, and from then on are treated as a perfect couple with no on-screen setup whatsoever.
** Arguably Tara and Cal. While the two were good friends, Tara had a longstanding relationship with Robin and Cal was in love with a woman named Eleanor, then flirted with Mara, Tara's younger sister. While Robin and Tara had a rocky relationship, Tara rejected many other suitors in favour of Robin in the past. Come the 8th book, suddenly Cal falls for Tara and Tara dumps her boyfriend to be with him with little prior buildup to this.

* HalfHumanHybrid: Sylver is a half-dragon, half-human.

** Arguably Tara and Cal. While the two were good friends, Tara had a longstanding relationship with Robin and Cal was in love with a woman named Elenor, then flirted with Mara, Tara's younger sister. While Robin and Tara had a rocky relationship, Tara rejected many other suitors in favour of Robin in the past. Come the 11th book, suddenly Cal falls for Tara and Tara dumps her boyfriend to be with him with little prior buildup to this.

* CureYourGays: [[spoiler: The [[LoveIsInTheAir love spell]] on Selena was so powerful that it even worked on Various, her cousin, who was supposed to be gay. Even when said spell vanished, Various retained an interest in women, as he settled down with Lisbeth]].
* DirectLineToTheAuthor: The characters say that their story is true, and that Sophie Audouin-Mamikonian is Tara's official biograph.

* DudeMagnet: Tara has had two [[ArrangedMarriage arranged marriages]] proposed to her; not only that, but every boy of her age was once attracted to her except her childhood friend Fabrice, who considers her a [[LikeBrotherAndSister sister...]]Except in book 6, where he admired her beauty a bit too much.

* Fiction500: Tara's family is insanely rich, either on Earth or on Otherworld.

* MuggleBestFriend: Betty, the only prominent nonsos character, and who stayed on earth most of the time for that reason.
* NotBrainwashed: [[spoiler: Fabrice, regarding his FaceHeelTurn fueled by his lust for [[AmbitionIsEvil power.]] Later on, he thus seems EasilyForgiven.]]

* PolarOppositeTwins: [[spoiler: Dan and Celia are this, not only in looks and gender but also in personality. And as anyone would expect of this trope, Celia turns out to be the shy and soft twin with low self-esteem while Dan is hotheaded, courageous and impulsive who is envious of his mother's magic. The only thing they agree on is that Tagon, the city where Tara sent them to live in, is boring, but Celia would rather live in Paris or NYC while Dan prefers to live adventures in AutreMonde]]
* ProtagonistCenteredMorality : [[spoiler: Tara dumps Robin despite the latter being a perfect, faithful boyfriend during 9 books, for her common best friend; and she was the one who was guilty of killing him accidentally ([[UnexplainedRecovery he got better]]) or kissing other boys in front of him.]]

* SoBeautifulItsACurse.[[spoiler: Literally: Tara inherited [[LoveIsInTheAir a love curse]] from her mother. Robin, Jeremy, and Sylver all fell for her before it's revealed (it turned out to be genuine feelings for Robin, however). Inexplicably, she's still described with a magnificent beauty after said spell was broken, and Cal becomes infatuated with her (maybe done under influence in the animated version), despite having resisted the curse until book 8 and being in love with another girl, Eleanor, until then (Eleanor was dead when he fell for Tara)]].

* UntoUsASonAndDaughterAreBorn: [[spoiler: Dan and Celia, Tara and Cal's first children, who also turn out to be carbon copies of their opposite gender parent.]]

* VoluntaryShapeshifting: Tara can shapeshift into anything, from a dragon to a vampire. She can also make anyone shapeshift into anything, and can also inflict permanent genetic modifications - such as when she changed Robin into [[spoiler: a full elf, after he had just accepted his mixed race inheritage]] and made Cal, [[whose family business is thieving, taller and boarder to suit her tastes]] when she was [[spoiler: turned into the Dark Queen]]. She is also the only one who can turn vampires addicted to human blood into normal vampires.
* WizardsLiveLonger: Spellbinder live an average of 300 years, and age accordingly, at least [[ImmortalityBeginsAtTwenty as soon as they stop growing]]. Some age slower than others but it is unknown why.
** Scientist later discover that it is the amount of magical power one has that determine their aging speed. As such, [[spoiler: Tara, the strongest spellbinder ever, still looks like a 18 years old at 35, while having two 13 years old children.]]
** However it is not known if it is specifically the ability to practice magic that gives spellbinders their extended longevity, since there is no intance of a Spellbinder's child being unable to use magic. As such, we do not know if Fabrice, the child of two humans who turned out to be able to use a weak form of magic because of magical overexposure while in the womb, would have had the longevity of a human or a spellbinder.

* VoluntaryShapeshifting: Tara can shapeshift into anything, from a dragon to a vampire.

* [[NotUsingtheZWord Not Using the W Word]]: Tara is offended when Sandra calls her a witch, since "spellbinders" are apparently a different thing entirely.

* OurMonstersAreDifferent: Virtually anything and everything (harpies, vampires, werewolves) can cast spells like witches do. Ironically, actual witches do not seem to exist.

* CanonSue : as the story progresses, Tara, who was already super powerful, gains more and more magical or abilities no other character possess, to the point that any other threat should become laughable and be rid off rather easily, she's worshipped by all and all those who criticized her end up being bad guys somehow.

* CoolPet: Galant, Tara's familiar, isn't only a {{Familiar}} {{Pegasus}}, he's the only one with magic powers.

* GeneticEngineeringIsTheNewNuke: [[spoiler:It is later revealed that the reason behind Tara's godlike amount of Magic is the result of genetic engineering the Dragon have secretly subjected the Imperial family to ever since it was established after Demiderius. Why she keeps getting stronger as time pass and how she ended up being stronger than her father as an ''infant'', even though he was subjected to the same experiments too, is never explained. Later, she refuses to have her children undergo the same experiments despite the fact that the Dragons have been doing it successfully since the dawn of time, which result in two very frustrated teenagers with subpar magic, with one terribly envious of his mother's strength.]]

** ZigZaggingTrope: [[spoiler: She loses weight and her glasses in book five during her imprisonment. Back on Earth her parents notice she's now a "gorgeous young lady." Then she regains her weight.]]

An AnimatedAdaptation of the same name[[note]]Was also known as ''Tara Duncan: The Evil Empress'' in the US.[[/note]] was produced by Moonscoop. The series premiered on 27 June 2010 in France on Creator/DisneyXD, and ended in 2011 with 26 episodes and no second season. In the US, the series was released on Creator/{{Kabillion}}'s VOD service. It [[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCa443lxQdFNvmJSyEadj67w can be legally watched here]].

[[caption-width-right:282:[[labelnote:Click here to see the poster in the Animated Adaptation.]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/p8983432_b_v8_aa.jpg]][[/labelnote]]