History Literature / TheCroning

* EvilIsVisceral: [[spoiler:To torment Don, Ramirez/Burton "treats" him a vision of the Old Leech's home world, which is a dark and incredibly disturbing place where his Children bathe in an large underground ocean of warm blood and what passes for "shores" in said ocean are large piles of bones from the countless victims they have harvested from their different colonized worlds from all over the galaxy.]]

* ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem: When Kinder and Ramirez tells Don that they already have a pretty good idea of where Michelle is, Don quickly figures out that they aren't just a couple of retired cops, but something much higher up in the social pecking order. Kinder admits as much, explaining that they are actually members of the Mexican Federal Intelligence and Ramirez then proceeds to namecheck the trope.

* DefiantToTheEnd: [[spoiler:Don is incredibly stubborn, and steadfastly refuses to be browbeat into submission by any threats of how the wrath of the Children and the Old Leech might rain down upon him that Rourke, Wolverton, and Ford level at him, no matter how much existential dread they might instill in him, even at one point gathering enough willpower to overcome being frozen by fear and managing to kill Rourke, when he is otherwise at him and Wolverton's mercy. Ford even implies that it is something that runs in his bloodline, telling him that his distant ancestors often have shown the same tenacity throughout the ages. It is eventually subverted though; Don might be able shrug off threats against himself, but [[IHaveYourWife Michelle and the twins is another matter entirely]]...]]

* EldritchLocation: [[spoiler:Don and Hank stumbles upon a strange, old [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolmen dolmen]] tomb in a clearing in the wilderness far behind the Mock House. Don notices that there shouldn't be such a tomb there, since no Native American culture was known to build dolmens, and such a structure should by all means already have been discovered by government or private surveyors long ago. Even stranger, it seems to be BiggerOnTheInside. Hank decides to enter and explore it despite Don's warnings and misgivings, [[CuriosityKilledTheCast and is never seen again]].]]

* EvilIsVisceral: [[spoiler:To torment Don, Ramirez/Burton "treats" him a vision of the Old Leech's home world, which is a dark and incredibly disturbing place where his Children bathe in an large underground ocean of warm blood and what passes for "shores" in said ocean are large piles of bones from the countless victims they have harvested from their colonized worlds from all over the galaxy.]]

* TheAssimilator: [[spoiler:The Children of the Old Leech have long since stopped procreating conventionally, seeing how they are basically immortal, and such the only purpose their young serve is to be eaten by their elders. Instead, they occasionally strengthen their ranks by seeking out "worthy" individuals amongst the dominant species on the planets they have colonized and abducting them to turn them into one of them through a somewhat vague, but overall rather nasty process. The chosen individual is infected with a nascent Child parasite, who latches onto their central nervous system, and effectively fuses with their body and mind. The infectee for the most keeps their original mind and sense of identity, though their personality are gradually bended towards the inherent sadism and cruelty the Old Leech imbues all of his Children with, as well as the unquestioning obedience he demands of them. As the newly born Child advances through their arcane hierarchy of their new species (and, to some degree depending on which role they are assigned), parts of their humanity, be it mind or body, are gradually taken away.]]

* TheAssimilator: [[spoiler:The Children of the Old Leech have long since stopped procreating conventionally, seeing how they are basically immortal, and such the only purpose their young serve is to be eaten by their elders. Instead, they occasionally strengthen their ranks by seeking out "worthy" individuals amongst the dominant species on the planets they have colonized and abducting them to turn them into one of them through a somewhat vague, but overall rather nasty process.]]

* WasOnceAMan: [[spoiler:Most of the Children were once people. The way they operate is that they take some selected members of the species they colonise to join their ranks, so to speak, by turning them into one of their own. The process is rather horrifying from the unfortunate human's point of view.]]

* LesCollaborateurs: Several human families from the higher echelons of society are in league with the Children, in exchange for riches, power, and a chance at immortality. [[spoiler:Michelle's family, the Mocks, turns out to be one of them. As is Don's bosses, Barry Rourke and Connor Wolverton.]] Don goes as far to speculate that [[GovernmentConspiracy the American government, and maybe other governments of the world are also in on the conspiracy to some degree or another]]. Kurt even invokes the name of the trope, when [[spoiler:he muses on how deep his mother's family is in with the Children]].

* AliensAreBastards: The Children are powerful, immortal, and are leagues beyond humans in technology. They are also extremely petty jerks who love to torture and scare humans out of their wits simply because they enjoy feeding on their fear. They are also [[EvilIsPetty extremely vindictive and petty]], often inflicting a FateWorseThanDeath on anyone they believe have slighted them, even if they have done so unwittingly. And [[InvasionOfTheBabySnatchers they eat kids]].

* TheVerse: This book shares a universe with several of Barron's other stories, most notably through the Children of the Old Leech, who are also the main villains of "The Broadsword", "The Men from Porlock" (which even features a protagonist named Miller, who is heavily implied to be one of Don's relatives, [[spoiler:as well as a Child going by the name Boris Kalamov, which is also the name of one of Michelle's associates]]), and "Mysterium Tremendum". The narrative mentions Michelle's associates Toshi Ryoko and Howard Campbell, who appeared in person in "The Forest" and met Barron's HardboiledDetective, Isaiah Coleridge, in ''Worse Angels''. Don's and Michelle's brief stay in Ransom Hollow also gives this story a connection to Barron's Black Bill stories [[spoiler:implying that Michelle's relatives were the founders of the Black Ram Lodge from these stories]].

* HappilyMarried: When thinking about their history together, Don notices that he and Michelle may have their arguements, her frequent and long excursions from their home does wear a bit on him, and her wild and unpredictable nature have caused him plently of both heart- and headarches, but he still loves her deep in spite of, or maybe even because of these traits. Michelle, for her part might be a bit more reserved and mysterious about it, but in key moments its made clear that she does love him deeply too. [[spoiler:In fact, her love for him is so deep and genuine that the Children of the Old Leech considers it a major problem, because they simply cannot abide divided loyalties. So in the end, Broson Ford demands that Don immediately ''un''divides those loyalties by joining up with the Children too, [[JoinOrDie or him and Michelle, and the rest of their family for that matter, will subjected to the full extent of their terrible and gruesome wrath]].]]

* HappilyMarried: Don notices that he and Michelle may have their arguements, her frequent and long excursions from their does wear a bit on him, and her wild and unpredictable nature have caused him plently of both heart- and headarches, but he still loves her deep in spite of, or maybe even because of these traits. Michelle, for her part might be q bit more reserved and mysterious about it, but in key moments its made clear that she does love him deeply too. [[spoiler:In fact, her love for him is so deep and genuine that the Children of the Old Leech considers it a major problem, because they simply cannot abide divided loyalties. So in the end, Broson Ford demands that Don ''un''divides those loyalties by joining up with the Children too, [[JoinOrDie or him and Michelle, and the rest of their family for that matter, will subjected to the full extent of their terrible and gruesome wrath]].]]

* ParentalFavoritism: In his old age, Don has no scrubles with admitting to himself that he much preferred Holly to Kurt when they were kids due her sweet and quiet nature, as opposed to Kurt who was headstrong and loud. It is implied that this is really down to Don seeing too much of himself in his son.

* LesCollaborateurs: Several human families from the higher echelons of society are in league with the Children, in exchange for riches, power, and a chance at immortality. [[spoiler:Michelle's family, the Mocks, turns out to be one of them. As is Don's boss Barry Rourke.]] Don goes as far to speculate that [[GovernmentConspiracy the American government, and maybe other governments of the world are also in on the conspiracy to some degree or another]]. Kurt even invokes the name of the trope, when [[spoiler:he muses on how deep his mother's family is in with the Children]].

* ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem: When Kinder and Ramirez tells Don that they already have a pretty good of where Michelle is, Don quickly figures out that they aren't just a couple of retired cops, but something much higher up in the social pecking order. Kinder admits as much, explaining that they are actually members of Federal Intelligence and Ramirez proceeds to namecheck the trope.

* IntroOnlyPointOfView: Several times actually. The first section of the book, is told from the point of view of the Spy, a character living in the early medieval times, where most of the book is set in the present day. The short chapter where the viewpoint follows NSA agent Tommy Crane also qualifies, working mainly as a way to set up TheConspiracy, and to show that not even the US government is safe from the threat the Children of the Old Leech pose.

* DepravedDwarf: The favorite guise of Rumplestilskin aka [[spoiler:Broson Ford]], is appearing as a scary, malformed little man known to most as simply "the Dwarf". When the Spy first noitices him, he describes him as wearing the smile of "a butcher or coroner who enjoyed his job for all the wrong reasons." As he follows the Dwarf's trail, he learns amongst other things that he likes to insert himself into any local festival he happens to pass, where he gets drunk and pervs on any young woman who aren't quick enough to steer clear of him, and likes to horrify children (and their mothers) with lurid tales involving monsters, fairies, and sexual deviantcy.

* DepravedDwarf: The favorite guise of Rumplestilskin aka [[spoiler:Broson Ford]], is appearing as a scary, malformed little man known to most as simply "the Dwarf". When the Spy first noitices him, he describes him as wearing the smile of "a butcher or coroner who enjoyed who enjoyed his job for all the wrong reasons." As he follows the Dwarf's trail, he learns amongst other things that he likes to insert himself into any local festival he happens to pass, where he gets drunk and pervs on any young woman who aren't quick enough to steer clear of him, and likes to horrify children (and their mothers) with lurid tales involving monsters, fairies, and sexual deviantcy.

* SadisticChoice: [[spoiler:Bronson Ford eventually manages to utterly break Don with one of these in the end, posing the question of what is ultimately more important to him: his wife and daughter, or his unborn grandchild?]]

* AliensAreBastards: The Children are powerful, immortal, and are leagues beyond humans in technology. They are also extremely petty jerks who love to torture and scare humans out of their wits simply because they enjoy feeding on their fear. They are also extremely vindictive, often inflicting a FateWorseThanDeath on anyone they believe have slighted them, even if they have done so unwittingly. And [[EatsBabies they eat kids]].

* BlackEyesOfEvil: [[spoiler:People assimilated over by the Children manifests these.]]

* EatsBabies: Very much played for horror. [[spoiler:The Children eat their own children for sustenance, and see infants and children from every species they colonize as a delicacy.]]

* EmotionEater: The Children have the ability to feed on human anguish and fear. [[spoiler:It is indicated that they strictly speaking don't ''need'' it, per se, but they find the sensation of absorbing it extremely delightful, like a recreational drug.]]
* ExactWords: "Rumpelstiltskin" promised the Queen he would not take her child if she could guess his name before the deadline. [[spoiler: Just straight-up murdering her is, technically, not taking her child.]]
* FateWorseThanDeath: Don reasons he doesn't need to worry about [[spoiler: Old Leech and his Children taking over the world]], because it's so far in the future he and everyone he knows will be long dead. Mr. R/Bronson, however, corrects him: if the Children are sufficiently pissed off at Don, they are perfectly capable of keeping him alive as long as they want, just so [[ForcedToWatch they can force him to witness it]].

In the early middle ages, a Spy goes on a mission given to him by his sister, the Queen. He is to track down a strange, misshapen dwarf, who has made a deal with the Queen; she must learn his true name, or he will take her firstborn child as payment for a favor he once did her. The mysterious dwarf proves much more illusive than originally thought, and the quest takes the Spy to the end of civilisation at the far edges of the realm, where he discovers something terrible and very old lurking in an ancient temple hidden in shadows of the mountains.

* EmotionEater: The Children have the ability to feed on human anguish and fear. [[spoiler:It is indicated that they strictly speaking don't ''need'' it, per say, but they find the sensation of absorbing it extremely delightful, like a recreational drug.]]