History Literature / TheChroniclesOfPrydain

* WarIsHell: Taran slowly comes to realize this over ''The Book of Three'' and even more-so in ''The Black Cauldron''. Then ''The High King'' rolls around and this trope gets taken UpToEleven.

Long ago, the land of Prydain [[AndManGrewProud was a rich, and prosperous land, renowned for its craftsmen who knew many great secrets about shaping metal and firing clay.]] Arawn, the local EvilOverlord, would have none of that, and using his cunning and trickery he stole away those wonderous treasures and secrets and locked them away in his fortress, Annuvin, [[JerkAss where they would serve no one]]. The once fair land fell into decay and surely would have fallen under Arawn's power had not the mighty and heroic Sons of Don arrived in Prydain and united its people in an alliance against Arawn's forces. Years have passed and the Sons of Don have maintained peace, but there are those who fear that the people have grown too reliant on their new rulers, the lesser lords constantly feud with each other for foolish and petty reasons, and Arawn is still lurking in the shadows, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

* TheOathBreaker: Breaking oaths is one of [[BigBad Arawn's]] most infamous habits. If this guy makes a deal, he WILL break it. No matter how little it might cost him to keep it]]. [[StupidEvil Or how much more dangerous NOT keeping it could be]]. And ''somehow'', there are always more idiots willing to make [[DealWithTheDevil deals]] with him.

%% ** Kaw as well.

* TheOathBreaker: Breaking oaths is one of [[BigBad Arawn's]] most infamous habits. If this guy makes a deal, he WILL break it. [[ChaoticEvil No matter how little it might cost him to keep it]]. [[StupidEvil Or how much more dangerous NOT keeping it could be]]. And ''somehow'', there are always more idiots willing to make [[DealWithTheDevil deals]] with him.
* ObfuscatingStupidity:
%% ** Gwystyl, but more like Obfuscating Chickenshittery.
%% ** The meek sandal-maker in Book 3 turns out to be [[spoiler: Gwydion]].

%% * OlderSidekick: Fflewddur, to Taran & Eilonwy. Gwydion is this too, but much less frequently.

** The Book of Three likewise stings Taran when he tries to read it, though as Taran isn't evil (just a bit selfish and generally adolescent), it only burns his fingers. [[spoiler: Pryderi grabs the Book, and since ''he'' is by this time lost to evil, it kills him.]]

%% * RagsToRoyalty: The story of High King [[spoiler:Taran]].
%% * RealityWritingBook: The Book of Three.

%% * TheRival: Ellidyr, to Taran.

* SoulJar: [[spoiler:Morda]] has one of these.

* TalkingAnimal: Kaw.

* AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence: The House of Don must take [[spoiler: ship for the paradise in the West once Arawn dies. This includes Fflewddur, who's a cadet relation, and Eilonwy of the House of Llyr, though Eilonwy wishes her way out of it. Taran, Gurgi, Glew, and Hen Wen are also given the option of going, but Taran remains because he considers it his duty, and Eilonwy and Hen Wen stay with him. Gurgi also wants to stay, but Taran tells him to go and find happiness.]]

** Taran later gives up Adaon's brooch to play for the Black Cauldron. He's more agonized about giving up one last remnant of his friend.

* HolyIsNotSafe: Dyrnwyn is clearly a holy blade, being the only weapon capable of killing the undead Cauldron Born or the DarkLord Arawn, but it's also extremely dangerous to anyone [[OnlyTheChosenMayWield insufficiently worthy]] who tries to draw it. Taran badly hurts himself trying to draw it at the climax of the first book, with Gwdyion later telling him the fact that he even ''survived'' unsheathing it suggests he may one day, someday be worthy of actually wielding it.

* TheFaceless: Arawn Death-Lord, partially because of his ShapeShifting talents. Menwy the Bard is the only mortal on record to have seen Arawn's true face. Considering that she trained him, Achren has probably seen his true face as well. She even states that she will know it's him no matter what form he shapeshifts into. When we finally see him in his true form, [[spoiler:Taran has just beheaded him while he was in the form of a snake, and when he reverts back, his severed head is face down - and then both body and head dissolve]].

* ShapeShifter: Arawn.

* AscendedFanboy: Taran.

* BaldOfAwesome: Coll - much to Taran's shock, as he apparently thought heroes should have impressive hair. During ''The High King'', Coll even goes without a helmet.

* BarefootSage: Medwyn.
* BattleCouple: Taran and Eilonwy again.

* {{Bishounen}}: Adaon.

* {{Brainwashed}}: [[spoiler:Eilonwy]] in the third book.

* CoolOldGuy: Coll
* CoolOldLady: Dwyvach, the weaver woman.

* EvilOverlord: Arawn is a classic example.
* EvilSorcerer: Arawn Death-Lord, Queen Achren, and Morda.

* ExitPursuedByABear

* FaceHeelTurn: [[spoiler:King Morgant]]

* FieryRedhead: Eilonwy
* FlamingSword: Dyrnwyn

* GodSaveUsFromTheQueen: Achren
* GondorCallsForAid: The premise of much of the final book.

* GuestStarPartyMember: Adaon, Ellidyr, Glew, Coll, and Llassar.

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Good old Doli
* JourneyToFindOneself: The whole point of ''Taran Wanderer.''

* JustEatGilligan

* LargeAndInCharge

* LargeHam: Fflewddur, and King Smoit.

* {{Mordor}}: Annuvin.

** Kaw as well.
** Melyngar, in the first book, and Melynlas in the rest.

* ObfuscatingStupidity: Gwystyl, but more like Obfuscating Chickenshittery.
** The meek sandal-maker in Book 3 turns out to be [[spoiler: Gwydion]].

* OlderSidekick: Fflewddur, to Taran & Eilonwy. Gwydion is this too, but much less frequently.

* RagsToRoyalty: The story of High King [[spoiler:Taran]].
* RealityWritingBook: The Book of Three.

* TheRival: Ellidyr, to Taran.

* HypnotizeThePrincess: Heavily influences the plot of ''The Castle of Llyr''.

* BadassBeard: King Smoit is known for his long fiery red beard.

* ItIsPronouncedTroPAY: Not actually an example of this, but if you're not familiar with Welsh and its charmingly quirky spelling, you'd be fooled.
** What doesn't help is that Welsh has ''seven'' vowels, each with two or more pronunciations - A, E, I & O sound roughly like you'd expect, but U sounds like I in all aspects and W is pronounced 'oo', in various ways. And Y has ''four'' pronunciations - it normally sounds like an I or a U in the last syllable of a word, or 'uh' elsewhere. [[SincerityMode This is actually quite hard to forget]]. [[MyGodYouAreSerious No, really]].
*** Some editions do have a pronunciation guide in the back, which indicates that the names aren't all pronounced the same as Welsh (for example, Gwydion is pronounced "gwih-deeon", rather than the "gooyd-eeon" pronunciation given in "Literature/{{Mabinogion}}".)

* WillTheyOrWontThey: Dragged out until the ''very last page'' of the final book with Taran and Eilonwy. [[spoiler:TheyDo, of course.]]
** Eilonwy [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] the whole situation with her response to Taran's [[spoiler:marriage proposal: "Well, indeed. I wondered if you'd ever get round to asking. Of course I will, and if you'd given half a thought to the question you'd have already known my answer."]]

* NotSoDifferent: Taran and Ellidyr. They both learn better.

* RealityEnsues: Taran comes to love Eilonwy, but keeps pointing out that he can't properly court her unless he's royalty or noble-born. After all, her parents got exiled for marrying despite class differences. Eilonwy doesn't care, but the other nobles do. The point only becomes moot when [[spoiler:after Arawn is overthrown, there is no royalty to enforce that rule and Taran ''chooses'' to become the ruler of Prydain to honor his promises to Rhun and Coll. Eilonwy gives up her magic to stay with him and become his queen]].

--> '''Orwen:''' So that's a gurgi. It seems to me I've heard of them, but I never knew what they were...
--> '''Orgoch:''' What do you do with the gurgi? Do you eat it or sit on it?
--> '''Orddu:''' I should think whatever you did, you would have to clean it first.

*** Some editions do have a pronunciation guide in the back, which indicates that the names aren't all pronounced the same as Welsh (for example, Gwydion is pronounced "gwih-deeon", rather than the "gooyd-eeon" pronunciation given in Literature/TheMabinogion.)

* DeathByNewberyMedal: ''The High King'' won a Newbery Medal and is a veritable named-character bloodbath. [[spoiler:Even if none of the characters on the cover die. No, not even the ReallyBigCat]]. ''The Black Cauldron'', by comparison, won a Newbery Honor and only has a body count of three (plus horse).

* AwesomenessByAnalysis: Llonio is, essentially, a medievel GadgeteerGenius whom [[Series/MacGyver1985 MacGyver]] would respect. He's able to come up with ideas on how to utilize all kinds of odds and ends, but he modestly calls it "luck."

* AsLongAsItSoundsForeign: A mild example. Nearly all of the character and place names are derived from Welsh mythology, but WordOfGod admitted to having completely made up the very Welsh-sounding Eilonwy.

* TheWeirdSisters: Orwen, Orddu, and Orgoch, three sisters who live in the Marshes of Morva, are hundreds of years old and masters of magic. All of them appear as young beauties at night and old crones in daylight. Each of them has their distinct personality, but oddly they also seem to take turns at being each sister and are able to swap their identities between them. When Taran visits them in ''The Black Cauldron'', they are just weaving a magical tapestry. WordOfGod has it that they're actually the TropeMaker, and possibly the UrExample as well (Orddu, Orwen, and Orgoch are just their most recent forms).

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: Dorath's [[IHaveYouNowMyPretty threat to violate Eilonwy]] is just oblique enough to pass muster in a children's fantasy novel published in the late sixties.

* DeathByNewberyMedal: ''The High King'' won a Newbery Medal and is a veritable named-character bloodbath. [[spoiler:Even if none of the characters on the cover die. No, not even the ReallyBigCat]]. ''The Black Cauldron'', by comparison, won a Newbery Honor and only has a body count of two.

* BlindIdiotTranslation: Very mild example. When Eilonwy first finds Dyrnwyn, she translates the inscription as "Draw Dyrnwyn, only thou of royal blood", which the party takes as an explanation as to why Prince Gwydion can draw it and Taran can't. Later on, it is revealed that while she was mostly accurate, she mistranslated the last bit - it actually read "noble worth", and Gwydion's strength of character (and Taran's lack of it) was the reason behind who could draw the sword. [[spoiler:After four books of CharacterDevelopment, Taran becomes able to draw the sword.]]

Generations of youngsters have struggled in vain to pronounce the names in ''The Chronicles of Prydain'', a five-book series of fantasy novels by the late American author Creator/LloydAlexander. Based (very) loosely on the Literature/{{Mabinogion}} and taking place in the fantasy world of Prydain, which bears no small resemblance to UsefulNotes/{{Wales}}. The novels feature a series of epic adventures in a land of HighFantasy, but place more emphasis on [[ComingOfAgeStory the protagonist's growing maturity and his journey into manhood.]]

** The major disadvantage of the Cauldron-Born is that they become weaker the further they are from Annuvin.

* OurElvesAreBetter: Averted. The Fair Folk are powerful and magical, sure, but they're not portrayed as much better than the humans, being prone to (often unjustified) FantasticRacism, [[{{Jerkass}} pettiness]] and [[{{Wangst}} whining about every little thing]].