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* IHaveBrothers: Dakin reveals that her brother Margle taught her how to climb.
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** Despite Dakin's fears that the King and Queen are desperate enough to get the Ring of Kings back that they will [[spoiler:harm the statue of Gog to get it back, they don't spare a moment in accepting her condition that they find a way to remove it without harming him]].
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* RingOfPower: The Ring of Kings is a magic ring, though its exact power is somewhat vague. It is apparently required for the royal family to perform royal marriages and acquiring it would allow the Master to extend his evil influence beyond the mountain and into the kingdom.
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* GoodParents: Downplayed. Dakin's parents go through several stages of dealing with Dakin's obsession over her goals, which at one point included yelling at her. On the other hand, at the start of the story they still clearly respect her choices enough to have not forced her into anything while still caring for her (and as far as they know her first two goals are literally impossible and her third is likely to only disappoint her), and when she [[spoiler:comes back from her adventure they are too concerned with her well-being to scold her. Dakin ends up having to force them to punish her in order to get things back to normal after they start praising her for what she had accomplished]].
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* HairOfGoldHeartOfGold: Dakin has blonde hair so pale it's almost white, and she's a kindhearted young soul who shows sympathy for the apparently evil and refuses to be violent.
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* StandardHeroReward: Dakin initially hopes for the prince as a husband as reward [[spoiler:for returning the royal ring. After meeting him, she hopes this won't be the case. Luckily for her it does indeed turn out to not be the case, and the prince had someone in mind to marry already anyway]].
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* HonoraryPrincess: Dakin decides her dream of [[spoiler:marrying a prince was a youthful foolishness after actually meeting one, but while the husband she ends up with instead is not any royalty, they're referred to as the prince and princess of the mountain anyway]] in reference to her dream.
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* RuleOfThree: As appropriate for a fairy tale-inspired story there are a few things in groups of threes, most notably Dakin's three primary goals. Played with in a few cases though, since Dakin [[spoiler:gives up on her third goal]] (even if they symbolically fulfill it) and the three gargoyles are just three of [[spoiler:four plot relevant brothers]].
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* BrightIsNotGood: On top of the mountain is a snow that seems to reflect a rainbow of colors. When Dakin actually gets there, she finds out that the snow is that way as a result of the Colored Snow Witch's vile experiments, and each color of snow belies a different magical danger.
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* BrightIsNotGood: On top of the mountain is a snow that seems to reflect a rainbow of colors. When Dakin actually gets there, she finds out that the snow is that way as a result of the Colored Snow Witch's vile experiments, and each color of snow belies indicates a different magical danger.
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* DivineRightOfKings: The supernatural implications behind the royal family being unable to conduct marriages without the royal ring, and the royal ring having the ability to [[spoiler:extend the Master's evil influence well beyond the mountain]], imply that the king and queen are not in their position by mere mortal means. How Prince Rally's [[spoiler:boorish nature fits in with this plan]] is never questioned or addressed.
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* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: The pastor of Dakin's village helps subvert a CassandraTruth. Upon hearing [[spoiler:Dakin's story, he looks up the old village records in the church and finds information about Ravik and the magician's son]] that corroborate her story.
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* AgeGapRomance: [[spoiler:Fourteen-year-old Dakin eventually hooks up with two-hundred-twenty-two-year-old Ravik. Played with in the implication that he is biologically still twenty-two because of the curse and will age normally from now on since the curse was broken, subverting MayflyDecemberRomance]].
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* TheManInFrontOfTheMan: When Dakin is trying to discern who the Master is, she's surprised to realize that it's the [[spoiler:Colored Snow Witch]], seemingly just one of the mountain's evils who even the Master's own servant had dismissed as little more than an annoying eccentric he'd love to be rid of.
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* TheManInFrontOfTheMan: When Dakin is trying eventually tries to discern who the Master is, she's since as far as she knows everyone on the mountain is accounted for and the Master isn't among them. She's surprised to realize that it's the [[spoiler:Colored Snow Witch]], seemingly just one of the mountain's evils who even the Master's own servant had dismissed as little more than an annoying eccentric he'd love to be rid of.
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* PartySchedulingGambit: Dakin considers scheduling her wedding to be at the same time as [[spoiler:the royal wedding so she doesn't have to attend the latter. Her fiance points out this would put her family in an awkward position as well and that if she doesn't want her reward then she could give it to the poor of her village]], so she ultimately decides against the gambit.
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* SuddenlySuitableSuitor: Played with. Dakin realizes she is not a match for [[spoiler:Prince Rally at all only to discover that Ravik is alive and well. He wishes to marry Dakin but laments that he is not a prince. Dakin just calls herself foolish for needing her husband to be a prince and accepts his proposal. However, at the end, they decide to try rebuilding a civilization on the mountain and consider themselves the prince and princess of it]].
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* PrinceCharmless: When Dakin finally meets [[spoiler:the prince, she discovers him to be a slouching, ill-mannered young man with a hobby she has no interest in. The fact that he turns out to already have his own love interest in mind is a great relief to Dakin]].
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* PrinceCharmless: When Dakin finally meets [[spoiler:the prince, [[spoiler:Prince Rally, she discovers him to be a slouching, ill-mannered young man with a hobby she has no interest in. The fact that he turns out to already have his own love interest in mind is a great relief to Dakin]].
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''The Farthest-Away Mountain'' is a 1976 fantasy novel by Creator/LynneReidBanks that follows a fairy tale-inspired format while not being afraid to shake things up.
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''The Farthest-Away Mountain'' is a 1976 fantasy novel by Creator/LynneReidBanks that follows takes a fairy tale-inspired format while not being afraid to shake and shakes a few things up.
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''The Farthest-Away Mountain'' is a 1976 fantasy novel by Creator/LynneReidBanks. A young girl named Dakin has always wanted to do three things in life: visit the Farthest-Away Mountain, meet a gargoyle, and marry a prince. When the mountain itself appears to literally call her to adventure, she jumps at the chance, but finding herself needing to stand strong against many supernatural dangers she wasn't prepared for.
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''The Farthest-Away Mountain'' is a 1976 fantasy novel by Creator/LynneReidBanks. Creator/LynneReidBanks that follows a fairy tale-inspired format while not being afraid to shake things up.
A young girl named Dakin who hasalways wanted come of age refuses to do settle down until she has accomplished three things in life: visit the Farthest-Away Mountain, meet a gargoyle, and marry find a prince. When prince to be her husband. Her family teases her about the impossibility of all three, but when the mountain itself appears seems to literally call her to adventure, and nod, she jumps sets off to fulfill her dreams.
As she crosses the river at thechance, but finding herself needing edge of her village and enters the forbidden pinewood forest just beyond, things get strange immediately as the bronze statue she brought with her comes to stand strong against many supernatural life. She reaches the foot of the mountain in short order, the first to do so for as long as anyone can remember, only to find it covered in dangers mundane and magical, from jagged slopes and a treacherously narrow mountain path to a giant of an ogre and a witch who has cursed the snow itself. Determined to see things through, Dakin resolves to risk her life for an even greater cause than she wasn't prepared set out for.
A young girl named Dakin who has
As she crosses the river at the
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* TheFogOfAges: Croak the frog has been around for at least two hundred years and has forgotten where he came from. It turns out to be very important that [[spoiler:he was alive for things he told Dakin he didn't know]].
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* TeleportCloak: The witch covers Dakin in her cloak in order to teleport the both of them from the top of the mountain back to [[spoiler:Croak's cabin and the Lithy Pool]].
* TheFogOfAges: Old Croak the frog has been around for at least two hundred years and has forgotten where he came from. It turns out to bevery important relevant that [[spoiler:he was alive for things he told Dakin he didn't know]].
* TheFogOfAges: Old Croak the frog has been around for at least two hundred years and has forgotten where he came from. It turns out to be
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* TheStarscream: Drackamag fantasizes about killing the Master and taking the mountain for himself.
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* TheStarscream: Drackamag fantasizes about killing the Master and taking the mountain for himself.himself, which inadvertently [[spoiler:leads to the Master's death when Dakin remembers Drackamag's plan and pulls it off herself]].
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* WickedWitch: The Colored Snow Witch is an evil, ugly woman dressed in rags that wields BlackMagic and lives in a hole at the top of a mountain forsaken from most but other evil creatures.
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* WickedWitch: The Colored Snow Witch is an evil, ugly woman dressed in rags that wields BlackMagic and lives in a hole at the top of a mountain forsaken from most everyone but other servants of the evil creatures.
Master.
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* SuccessionCrisis: The problem in this case isn't that the royal family has no clear heir, but that for whatever reason (implied to be supernaturally mandated) they cannot marry without the royal ring, its disappearance dooming the royal line past this generation. This ring is sought out by the royal family in the background, but ends up being [[spoiler:more of a MacGuffin for the BigBad than the protagonist since it would extent their realm of influence past the mountain]].
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* SuccessionCrisis: The problem in this case isn't that the royal family has no clear heir, but that for whatever reason (implied to be supernaturally mandated) they cannot marry without the royal ring, its disappearance dooming the royal line past this generation. This ring is sought out by the royal family in the background, but ends up being [[spoiler:more of a MacGuffin for the BigBad than the protagonist (who doesn't even find out it might show up during her quest until later on) since it would extent extend their realm of influence past the mountain]].
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* InvoluntaryShapeshifting: The Master is so evil and so old that [[spoiler:during the day he has no form, traveling the mountain as an invisible spirit, but every night he changes into a witch]] creating at least a small window of vulnerability.
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* WickedWitch: The Colored Snow Witch is an evil, ugly woman dressed in rags that wields BlackMagic and lives in a hole at the top of a mountain forsaken from most but other evil creatures.
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* AllTrollsAreDifferent: The story has four trolls in total and all are well-meaning characters whose descriptions as small bearded men (at least one with a pointed cap) are a dead ringer for the stereotypical garden gnome. %%The Wikipedia synopsis for the novel outright calls them gnomes. I wonder if a different printing of the book called them gnomes, but I cannot confirm.
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* NoOntologicalInertia: When the Master is [[spoiler:killed, all of his evil influence over the mountain disappears. This includes all of his victims returning to normal, the colored snow dissipating, and the wicked wood becoming less dark and creepy]]. Played with in the fact that the spell on [[spoiler:Gog remains]], suggested to be because he was outside of the Master's range of magical influence when it happened.
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* NoOntologicalInertia: When the Master is [[spoiler:killed, all of his evil influence over the mountain disappears. This includes all of his victims returning to normal, the colored snow dissipating, and the wicked wood becoming less dark and creepy]]. Played with in the fact that the spell on [[spoiler:Gog remains]], suggested to be because he was outside of the Master's range of magical influence when it happened.at the time.
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* NoOntologicalInertia: When the Master is [[spoiler:killed, all of his evil influence over the mountain disappears. This includes all of his victims returning to normal, the colored snow dissipating, and the wicked wood becoming less dark and creepy]]. Played with in the fact that the spell on [[spoiler:Gog remains]], suggested to be because he was outside of the Master's range of magical influence when it happened.
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* WeaksauceWeakness: Downplayed. The Colored Snow Witch doesn't like the color white, which is why she is trying to color all of the snow. She also wears dark glasses to avoid the white glow of moonlight. However, while she will recoil in horror when faced with the color, she recovers fairly quickly, such as conjuring a new pair of glasses instantly if you knock them away from her. However, it still serves as a very useful way to set up [[spoiler:a much more fatal weakness]].
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* WeaksauceWeakness: Downplayed. The Colored Snow Witch doesn't like the color white, which is why she is trying to color all of the snow. She also wears dark glasses to avoid the white glow of moonlight. However, while she will recoil in horror when faced with the color, she recovers fairly quickly, such as conjuring a new pair of glasses instantly if you knock them away from her. However, it still serves as a very useful way to set up [[spoiler:a much more fatal weakness]].weakness]].
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''The Farthest-Away Mountain'' is a fantasy novel by Creator/LynneReidBanks. A young girl named Dakin has always wanted to do three things in life: visit the Farthest-Away Mountain, meet a gargoyle, and marry a prince. When the mountain itself appears to literally call her to adventure, she jumps at the chance, but finding herself needing to stand strong against many supernatural dangers she wasn't prepared for.
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''The Farthest-Away Mountain'' is a 1976 fantasy novel by Creator/LynneReidBanks. A young girl named Dakin has always wanted to do three things in life: visit the Farthest-Away Mountain, meet a gargoyle, and marry a prince. When the mountain itself appears to literally call her to adventure, she jumps at the chance, but finding herself needing to stand strong against many supernatural dangers she wasn't prepared for.
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* DeliberateValuesDissonance: The narration makes a point out of the fact that marrying at Dakin's age of fourteen was completely normal at the time the story takes place and in turn it isn't something she finds odd at all throughout the story and her goals.
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* NoImmortalInertia: Dakin considers this might be the case when she can't find Croak after his curse is broken, realizing that since [[spoiler:he was once a human, that returning to a human form]] after two-hundred years might have instantly killed him. [[spoiler:Subverted when it turns out that he is fine after all, and he seems to have remained at the age he was when he was first cursed]].
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* Fauxshadow: Dakin is given a password early on but is told that it's almost certainly been changed. She finds out the password [[spoiler:hasn't been changed after all just in time for it to not matter because the BigBad has figured out what's going on and it won't fool anyone at that point]].
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* Fauxshadow: {{Fauxshadow}}: Dakin is given a password early on but is told that it's almost certainly been changed. She finds out the password [[spoiler:hasn't been changed after all just in time for it to not matter because the BigBad has figured out what's going on and it won't fool anyone at that point]].
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* NiceJobFixingItVillain: The flying monster Graw yanks Dakin off the peak of the mountain and carries her back down, either in a failed attempt to kill her or simply just to force her to leave. Not only does this give Dakin the opportunity to [[spoiler:bathe in the Lithy Pool, which she had previously missed her chance to, but Graw attacks her again after bathing, brining her into its master's lair, essentially negating any negative effect it had on her quest]].
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* NiceJobFixingItVillain: The flying monster Graw yanks Dakin off the peak of the mountain and carries her back down, either in a failed attempt to kill her or simply just to force her to leave. Not only does this give Dakin the opportunity to [[spoiler:bathe in the Lithy Pool, which she had previously missed her chance to, but Graw attacks her again after bathing, brining bringing her into its master's lair, essentially negating any negative effect it had on her quest]].
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* SuccessionCrisis: The problem in this case isn't that the royal family has no clear heir, but that for whatever reason (implied to be supernaturally mandated) they cannot marry without the royal ring, its disappearance dooming the royal line past this generation. This ring is sought out by the royal family in the background, but ends up being [[spoiler:more of a MacGuffin for the BigBad than the protagonist since it would extent their realm of influence past the mountain]].
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''The Farthest-Away Mountain'' is a fantasy novel by Creator/LynneReidBanks. A young girl named Dakin has always wanted to do three things in life: visit the Farthest-Away Mountain, meet a gargoyle, and marry a prince. When the mountain itself appears to literally call her to adventure, she jumps at the chance, but finding herself needing to stand strong against many supernatural dangers she wasn't prepared for.
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!!This series provides examples of:
* BalefulPolymorph: Every character Dakin meets on the mountain (and one prior) except the BigBad are the victims of such a transformation. The Master turned [[spoiler:Ravik into a frog, three of the troll brothers into gargoyles, the fourth into a bronze statue, and a man and a parrot into an ogre and a demonic beast]].
* BecauseYouWereNiceToMe: Dakin wanted to meet a gargoyle because she felt that their evil-looking appearance was a result of something they were sad about. When Dakin meets the gargoyles Og, Vog, and Zog who guard the mountain, it turns out that she was right, and her showing them sympathy has them [[spoiler:immediately assist her in her quest despite not knowing the password, supporting her at every opportunity from then on]].
* BlindPeopleWearSunglasses: Dakin mentions that a blind person in her village wears a pair of dark glasses.
* BrightIsNotGood: On top of the mountain is a snow that seems to reflect a rainbow of colors. When Dakin actually gets there, she finds out that the snow is that way as a result of the Colored Snow Witch's vile experiments, and each color of snow belies a different magical danger.
* CallToAdventure: The first chapter is even called "The Call." Dakin hears a voice in her head calling her to the titular mountain. She questions this at first, but after seeing the mountain appear to ''nod'', she goes along with it. After all, she's wanted to go all on her own for years.
* CassandraTruth: Subverted. When Dakin [[spoiler:returns from the mountain and tries to tell her story, the people of her village don't believe it right away, but as they start to compare notes about all the subtle things that have changed since she went missing they decide to believe her]].
* DoesNotLikeShoes: Early on it's established that Dakin only wears footwear when it's especially cold. She dons boots for her adventure to a snow-capped mountain, but when she's reunited with her boots after losing them for several chapters, she realizes that she forgot she even lost them because going barefoot in the meantime was completely natural for her.
* EldritchLocation: The reason it's called the Farthest-Away Mountain is because no matter how far anyone has traveled, the mountain remains the same distance on the horizon. It turns out the only way to approach is to be called by it, like it does with Dakin.
* EnemyToAllLivingThings: When the Master was young and originally [[spoiler:brought to the mountain, it was hoped that the mountain's good would purge the evil from him]]. Instead his very presence started wilting the land around him.
* Fauxshadow: Dakin is given a password early on but is told that it's almost certainly been changed. She finds out the password [[spoiler:hasn't been changed after all just in time for it to not matter because the BigBad has figured out what's going on and it won't fool anyone at that point]].
* GenderBender: The explicitly female Colored Snow Witch is revealed to be [[spoiler:the Master, who was born male and is referred to as male in the incorporeal form the witch takes during the day]].
* GeniusLoci: The titular mountain is the only mountain in the world with a soul, which grants it some abilities, including some sort of telepathy.
* GoodHurtsEvil: Early on Dakin is able to drive off Drackamag because he can't handle something positive like laughter. In the end, Dakin ultimately defeats the BigBad because [[spoiler:the evil-warding powers of the Lithy Pool are so strong that the Master]] literally evaporates upon contact with it. In a sense, this idea was also behind the thinking of [[spoiler:Ravik when he brought the magician's son to the mountain. He thought that bringing him to such a righteous location would purge the evil from him]].
* GoodIsImpotent: The backstory of the mountain essentially revolves around this. [[spoiler:Ravik was reckless in bringing an evil boy to the mountain in hopes of cleansing his evil. The other inhabitants of the mountain were cowardly and left the evil to conquer the mountain unhindered]]. Dakin realizes that good needs to be both wise ''and'' courageous in order for that goodness to matter, and by applying those things she [[spoiler:finally frees the mountain from two hundred years of evil]].
* HereThereWereDragons: It's explained that the world used to be filled with a lot more magic and supernatural creatures, but one of the only remnants of this age is the titular mountain.
* HypnoticEyes: Dakin notes that something about the Master's eyes forces her to answer questions that she would rather not. Shortly afterward this is turned around. When the Master uses her witch's ball as a HypnoPendulum, looking into her eyes defiantly instead prevents the compulsion from working.
* IfItTastesBadItMustBeGoodForYou: Referenced, in a sense, when Dakin puts the [[spoiler:blue bead]] in her mouth. She notes that it has a "disgusting but healthy sort of taste."
* JumpedAtTheCall: Dakin wanted to visit the farthest-away mountain long before it personally asked her to come, making the choice so easy for her that her eagerness gets her to overextend herself a couple of times.
* MagicIsEvil: Not outright stated, but heavily implied. While good creatures have forms of supernatural influence, the witch is an evil magic-user and an offhand mention about the son of the magician (along with another mention of wizards) implies that being a magician is enough for you to know the father was evil as well. Mentions of a church in her village and the [[spoiler:evil castle resembling a cathedral]] after the evil is banished imply this might be coming from the religious angle on magic.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: In the backstory, it turns out that the current state of the mountain is a result of [[spoiler:a hero who knowingly brought an evil to the mountain hoping to cure that evil]] only for it to backfire horribly.
* NiceJobFixingItVillain: The flying monster Graw yanks Dakin off the peak of the mountain and carries her back down, either in a failed attempt to kill her or simply just to force her to leave. Not only does this give Dakin the opportunity to [[spoiler:bathe in the Lithy Pool, which she had previously missed her chance to, but Graw attacks her again after bathing, brining her into its master's lair, essentially negating any negative effect it had on her quest]].
* NighInvulnerability: Dakin is told that bathing clothed in the Lithy Pool will make her resistant to evil. The [[spoiler:witch's magic]] ends up being able to effect her just fine, but Dakin discovers that it seems to make her extremely physically resilient, as Graw's demonic talons don't pierce her skin and tumbling along the rocks and crags still disorient but no longer injure her.
* OurGargoylesRock: Dakin wants to meet a gargoyle and ultimately meets three. They appear like architectural gargoyles, only coming out of a cliffside and able to move around it freely. They also have the ability to generate fresh water because architectural ones are used to channel water. They may not actually be a real species in this world, however, since [[spoiler:they were originally trolls before being turned into gargoyles as punishment]].
* OurOgresAreHungrier: Drackamag is an ogre about the size of a typical giant. He is a vile but intelligent enough character who serves as TheHeavy for most of the plot. It also turns out that he used to be [[spoiler:a normal man before the witch transformed him to be her servant]].
* PrinceCharmless: When Dakin finally meets [[spoiler:the prince, she discovers him to be a slouching, ill-mannered young man with a hobby she has no interest in. The fact that he turns out to already have his own love interest in mind is a great relief to Dakin]].
* SwissArmyTears: Dakin's tears melt away the dangerous crags on the first slopes of the mountain, and at the end of the story she learns that it was her tears that [[spoiler:animated the statue of Gog]].
* TechnicolorToxin: Dakin never finds out exactly what the purple snow does, but notes that it is a very poisonous looking shade of purple and gives off a toxic smell. When she steps through it with magical protection, it fizzles like HollywoodAcid.
* TheFogOfAges: Croak the frog has been around for at least two hundred years and has forgotten where he came from. It turns out to be very important that [[spoiler:he was alive for things he told Dakin he didn't know]].
* TheLawOfConservationOfDetail: Early on the bronze statue's outfit is described in detail, and the narration goes out of its way to describe how the outfit's belt has no buckle. It turns out this is because [[spoiler:it's actually a ring, which becomes relevant much later in the story]].
* TheLostWoods: The Wicked Wood is a very, very downplayed example, but is Dakin's first obstacle. Just beyond the river at the end of her village, the wicked wood is forbidden. Mostly it's so dense that it's extremely easy to get lost in, but when her cap gets stuck on a branch that is somehow far above her, there are implications that the forest might have a bit of a mind of its own. The only other implication is retroactive at the end since, after [[spoiler:Dakin cleanses the evil on the mountain, the forest is said to no longer be unnerving at all and even lets more sunlight through its canopy]].
* TheManInFrontOfTheMan: When Dakin is trying to discern who the Master is, she's surprised to realize that it's the [[spoiler:Colored Snow Witch]], seemingly just one of the mountain's evils who even the Master's own servant had dismissed as little more than an annoying eccentric he'd love to be rid of.
* TheStarscream: Drackamag fantasizes about killing the Master and taking the mountain for himself.
* WeaksauceWeakness: Downplayed. The Colored Snow Witch doesn't like the color white, which is why she is trying to color all of the snow. She also wears dark glasses to avoid the white glow of moonlight. However, while she will recoil in horror when faced with the color, she recovers fairly quickly, such as conjuring a new pair of glasses instantly if you knock them away from her. However, it still serves as a very useful way to set up [[spoiler:a much more fatal weakness]].
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!!This series provides examples of:
* BalefulPolymorph: Every character Dakin meets on the mountain (and one prior) except the BigBad are the victims of such a transformation. The Master turned [[spoiler:Ravik into a frog, three of the troll brothers into gargoyles, the fourth into a bronze statue, and a man and a parrot into an ogre and a demonic beast]].
* BecauseYouWereNiceToMe: Dakin wanted to meet a gargoyle because she felt that their evil-looking appearance was a result of something they were sad about. When Dakin meets the gargoyles Og, Vog, and Zog who guard the mountain, it turns out that she was right, and her showing them sympathy has them [[spoiler:immediately assist her in her quest despite not knowing the password, supporting her at every opportunity from then on]].
* BlindPeopleWearSunglasses: Dakin mentions that a blind person in her village wears a pair of dark glasses.
* BrightIsNotGood: On top of the mountain is a snow that seems to reflect a rainbow of colors. When Dakin actually gets there, she finds out that the snow is that way as a result of the Colored Snow Witch's vile experiments, and each color of snow belies a different magical danger.
* CallToAdventure: The first chapter is even called "The Call." Dakin hears a voice in her head calling her to the titular mountain. She questions this at first, but after seeing the mountain appear to ''nod'', she goes along with it. After all, she's wanted to go all on her own for years.
* CassandraTruth: Subverted. When Dakin [[spoiler:returns from the mountain and tries to tell her story, the people of her village don't believe it right away, but as they start to compare notes about all the subtle things that have changed since she went missing they decide to believe her]].
* DoesNotLikeShoes: Early on it's established that Dakin only wears footwear when it's especially cold. She dons boots for her adventure to a snow-capped mountain, but when she's reunited with her boots after losing them for several chapters, she realizes that she forgot she even lost them because going barefoot in the meantime was completely natural for her.
* EldritchLocation: The reason it's called the Farthest-Away Mountain is because no matter how far anyone has traveled, the mountain remains the same distance on the horizon. It turns out the only way to approach is to be called by it, like it does with Dakin.
* EnemyToAllLivingThings: When the Master was young and originally [[spoiler:brought to the mountain, it was hoped that the mountain's good would purge the evil from him]]. Instead his very presence started wilting the land around him.
* Fauxshadow: Dakin is given a password early on but is told that it's almost certainly been changed. She finds out the password [[spoiler:hasn't been changed after all just in time for it to not matter because the BigBad has figured out what's going on and it won't fool anyone at that point]].
* GenderBender: The explicitly female Colored Snow Witch is revealed to be [[spoiler:the Master, who was born male and is referred to as male in the incorporeal form the witch takes during the day]].
* GeniusLoci: The titular mountain is the only mountain in the world with a soul, which grants it some abilities, including some sort of telepathy.
* GoodHurtsEvil: Early on Dakin is able to drive off Drackamag because he can't handle something positive like laughter. In the end, Dakin ultimately defeats the BigBad because [[spoiler:the evil-warding powers of the Lithy Pool are so strong that the Master]] literally evaporates upon contact with it. In a sense, this idea was also behind the thinking of [[spoiler:Ravik when he brought the magician's son to the mountain. He thought that bringing him to such a righteous location would purge the evil from him]].
* GoodIsImpotent: The backstory of the mountain essentially revolves around this. [[spoiler:Ravik was reckless in bringing an evil boy to the mountain in hopes of cleansing his evil. The other inhabitants of the mountain were cowardly and left the evil to conquer the mountain unhindered]]. Dakin realizes that good needs to be both wise ''and'' courageous in order for that goodness to matter, and by applying those things she [[spoiler:finally frees the mountain from two hundred years of evil]].
* HereThereWereDragons: It's explained that the world used to be filled with a lot more magic and supernatural creatures, but one of the only remnants of this age is the titular mountain.
* HypnoticEyes: Dakin notes that something about the Master's eyes forces her to answer questions that she would rather not. Shortly afterward this is turned around. When the Master uses her witch's ball as a HypnoPendulum, looking into her eyes defiantly instead prevents the compulsion from working.
* IfItTastesBadItMustBeGoodForYou: Referenced, in a sense, when Dakin puts the [[spoiler:blue bead]] in her mouth. She notes that it has a "disgusting but healthy sort of taste."
* JumpedAtTheCall: Dakin wanted to visit the farthest-away mountain long before it personally asked her to come, making the choice so easy for her that her eagerness gets her to overextend herself a couple of times.
* MagicIsEvil: Not outright stated, but heavily implied. While good creatures have forms of supernatural influence, the witch is an evil magic-user and an offhand mention about the son of the magician (along with another mention of wizards) implies that being a magician is enough for you to know the father was evil as well. Mentions of a church in her village and the [[spoiler:evil castle resembling a cathedral]] after the evil is banished imply this might be coming from the religious angle on magic.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: In the backstory, it turns out that the current state of the mountain is a result of [[spoiler:a hero who knowingly brought an evil to the mountain hoping to cure that evil]] only for it to backfire horribly.
* NiceJobFixingItVillain: The flying monster Graw yanks Dakin off the peak of the mountain and carries her back down, either in a failed attempt to kill her or simply just to force her to leave. Not only does this give Dakin the opportunity to [[spoiler:bathe in the Lithy Pool, which she had previously missed her chance to, but Graw attacks her again after bathing, brining her into its master's lair, essentially negating any negative effect it had on her quest]].
* NighInvulnerability: Dakin is told that bathing clothed in the Lithy Pool will make her resistant to evil. The [[spoiler:witch's magic]] ends up being able to effect her just fine, but Dakin discovers that it seems to make her extremely physically resilient, as Graw's demonic talons don't pierce her skin and tumbling along the rocks and crags still disorient but no longer injure her.
* OurGargoylesRock: Dakin wants to meet a gargoyle and ultimately meets three. They appear like architectural gargoyles, only coming out of a cliffside and able to move around it freely. They also have the ability to generate fresh water because architectural ones are used to channel water. They may not actually be a real species in this world, however, since [[spoiler:they were originally trolls before being turned into gargoyles as punishment]].
* OurOgresAreHungrier: Drackamag is an ogre about the size of a typical giant. He is a vile but intelligent enough character who serves as TheHeavy for most of the plot. It also turns out that he used to be [[spoiler:a normal man before the witch transformed him to be her servant]].
* PrinceCharmless: When Dakin finally meets [[spoiler:the prince, she discovers him to be a slouching, ill-mannered young man with a hobby she has no interest in. The fact that he turns out to already have his own love interest in mind is a great relief to Dakin]].
* SwissArmyTears: Dakin's tears melt away the dangerous crags on the first slopes of the mountain, and at the end of the story she learns that it was her tears that [[spoiler:animated the statue of Gog]].
* TechnicolorToxin: Dakin never finds out exactly what the purple snow does, but notes that it is a very poisonous looking shade of purple and gives off a toxic smell. When she steps through it with magical protection, it fizzles like HollywoodAcid.
* TheFogOfAges: Croak the frog has been around for at least two hundred years and has forgotten where he came from. It turns out to be very important that [[spoiler:he was alive for things he told Dakin he didn't know]].
* TheLawOfConservationOfDetail: Early on the bronze statue's outfit is described in detail, and the narration goes out of its way to describe how the outfit's belt has no buckle. It turns out this is because [[spoiler:it's actually a ring, which becomes relevant much later in the story]].
* TheLostWoods: The Wicked Wood is a very, very downplayed example, but is Dakin's first obstacle. Just beyond the river at the end of her village, the wicked wood is forbidden. Mostly it's so dense that it's extremely easy to get lost in, but when her cap gets stuck on a branch that is somehow far above her, there are implications that the forest might have a bit of a mind of its own. The only other implication is retroactive at the end since, after [[spoiler:Dakin cleanses the evil on the mountain, the forest is said to no longer be unnerving at all and even lets more sunlight through its canopy]].
* TheManInFrontOfTheMan: When Dakin is trying to discern who the Master is, she's surprised to realize that it's the [[spoiler:Colored Snow Witch]], seemingly just one of the mountain's evils who even the Master's own servant had dismissed as little more than an annoying eccentric he'd love to be rid of.
* TheStarscream: Drackamag fantasizes about killing the Master and taking the mountain for himself.
* WeaksauceWeakness: Downplayed. The Colored Snow Witch doesn't like the color white, which is why she is trying to color all of the snow. She also wears dark glasses to avoid the white glow of moonlight. However, while she will recoil in horror when faced with the color, she recovers fairly quickly, such as conjuring a new pair of glasses instantly if you knock them away from her. However, it still serves as a very useful way to set up [[spoiler:a much more fatal weakness]].
