History Literature / TheHorseAndHisBoy

* RealWomenDontWearDresses: Lasaraleen gets hit with some of this when paired with the relatively more tomboyish Aravis. She is presented as gossipy, fashion-crazy and generally a little vapid, and is also the girl who ultimately does ''not'' rebel against the evil Calormene regime. It's also downplayed, however, since she is still shown to be quite competent, loyal and even brave when Aravis needs her help.

* TheScully: While his father and the vizier accept as a matter of course that Narnia's century-long winter was caused by the White Witch's magic, and therefore died with her, Prince Rabadash thinks it was occasioned by stellar influences and other natural causes, not believing that one sorceress could have been so powerful.

* FiveSecondForeshadowing: Shasta/[[spoiler: Cor]] wonders why everyone has suddenly risen to their feet while they are all debating what to do with Rabadash. Just as everyone in a courtroom stands to attention when the judge comes in, standing for {{spoiler: Aslan's arrival]] foreshadows what will happen to Rabadash.

* TooImportantToWalk: Calormene nobles are often carried on litters.

* FailedAttemptAtDrama: Rabadash has a tendency for these.
** While dueling with Edmund, he decides to leap in the air with sword held high and yell "The bolt of Tash falls from above!" while striking down. It would have looked very impressive....if he hadn't gotten his hauberk caught on a hook in the wall, leaving him dangling helplessly like laundry.
** He later tries to terrify the Archenland court by making a face, since people tend to faint dead away when they do. Unfortunately, the only reason it worked was because those people knew he could have them killed horribly. In a court where he's the prisoner, they're just confused and wondering if he's sick.
* FateWorseThanDeath: Bree tells Shasta that he should prefer to be dead tonight than be Tarkhaan Anradin's slave tomorrow.

* JerkassHasAPoint: Bree could have been a bit politer about pointing out that Aravis had just as much right to say Hwin was her horse as he does to say Aravis is Hwin's human... but even the narrator basically agrees with the point.

* LastStand: Discussed, but ultimately averted and slightly deconstructed. It's pointed out that [[spoiler: while they make for noble stories, they don't do much good beyond that, as the house ultimately ends up burned to the ground. The Narnian court decides to sneak away with a clever ruse instead.]]

* HappilyFailedSuicide: Aravis tries to commit suicide to avoid an arranged marriage to Ahoshta Tarkaan. Hwin intervenes, though, telling her that as long as she's alive, things have a chance to improve. The two make a plan to escape to Narnia, where no one is forced into marriage, and Aravis is very glad that she didn't kill herself.

* TooDumbToLive: Yeesh, Rabadash! First, his whole plan relies on speed: step one is take the royal castle in Archenland by surprise, then step two is quickly rush to Cair Paravel before Susan's ship arrives. [[spoiler: Shasta successfully warns King Lune in time, so the Archenland castle is sealed. Rabadash ought to know full well that he doesn't have time to lay siege to the castle.]] He should've called it quits and turned around right then and there, but whether from pride or lust, he doesn't. [[spoiler: He wastes critical time trying to take the Archenland castle, and now, instead of him being at Cair Paravel in time to catch Susan, [[RussionReversal King Edmund (who was on Susan's ship, no less!) rides out with an army from Cair Paravel]] to rescue his Archenland allies at the besieged castle.]] [[EpicFail Basically what happens is the polar opposite of Rabadash's plan.]] Next, [[spoiler: Rabadash gets captured in battle by the Narnians and Archenlanders and, even though they treat him quite nicely as a royal prisoner of war, he continues to throw fits and refuse to negotiate with them and threatens them all, even though they could just as easily have his head for it.]] This despite the fact that his father had told him in so many words that Calormen would not rescue or even avenge Rabadash if he fails. Then [[spoiler: he continues to act like this while [[CrystalDragonJesus Aslan]] is in the room, even when he's ''told'' to shut up or something bad will happen to him.]]

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* ThemeTwinNaming: This is a tradition in Archenland - Cor and Corin, Dar and Darrin, and Cole and Colin are the examples we meet. It even functions as foreshadowing: we get introduced to Corin as the prince of Archenland

* EvilCannotComprehendGood:
** While Rabadash outlines his plan to kidnap Queen Susan and force her to become his wife, the Tisroc rationally points out that even if he were to succeed, High King Peter would retaliate when he found out what happened. Rabadash brushes off this concern, stating that Peter won't want to lose the political advantages of a marriage alliance with Calormen, and that they can always send fake letters from Susan that claim [[BlatantLies she's changed her mind and is happy with the arrangement.]] The idea that Peter might not be okay with his sister being assaulted in this manner never crosses their minds.

-->"For this is what it means to be a king: to be first in every desperate attack and last in every desperate retreat, and when there's hunger in the land (and must be now and then in bad years) to wear finer clothes and laugh louder over a scantier meal than any man in your land."

* AlwaysIdenticalTwins: Shasta is mistaken for Prnce Corin while in Tashbaan. It is eventually revealed they are actually twins with [[LongLostRelative Shasta having been kidnapped when they were babies]].

* SuprisinglyRealisticOutcome: Lewis was fond of this trope, and thus there's quite a few examples, often with a lampshade.

** The Tisroc sends Rabadash, partially because he fears he may be this, as the oldest sons of Tisrocs often are. He mentions this happened to more then five Tisrocs.

* ThemeTwinNaming: This is a tradition in Archenland - Cor and Corin, Dar and Darrin, and Cole and Colin are the examples we meet.

* HappilyFailedSuicide: Aravis tries to commit suicide to avoid an arranged marriage to Ahoshta Tarkaan. Hwin intervenes, though, telling her that as long as she's alive, things have a chance to improve. The two make a plan to escape Narnia, and Aravis is very glad that she didn't kill herself.

* HeroOfAnotherStory: Aslan warns against being ''too'' interested in this, but the Pevensies are this to Shasta and he is this to them. It's one of the few books that are written from the Hero Of Another Story's point-of-view.

* RealityEnsues:
** As the heroes are starting out from the tombs to warn Archenland about Rabadash's attack, Aravis is worried that Rabadash and his forces will already be setting out, but Bree reminds her that Rabadash won't be able to get two hundred horsemen supplied, armoured, fed, watered and ready to travel all in a minute.
** When Shasta is making his BigHeroicRun to save the day, all he can think about is how he's winded, tired, his side hurts, his feet hurt, and it's just not fair that he should be given more to do after what he's already been through.

* TooDumbToLive: Yeesh, Rabadash! First, [[spoiler: he's captured in battle by the Narnians and, even though they treat him quite nicely, he continues to throw fits and refuse to negotiate with them and threatens them all, even though they could just as easily have his head for it.]] This despite the fact that his father had told him in so many words that Calormen would not rescue or even avenge Rabadash if he fails. Then [[spoiler: he continues to act like this while [[CrystalDragonJesus Aslan]] is in the room, even when he's ''told'' to shut up or something bad will happen to him.]]

** Bree risks talking for the first time in years- knowing that the fate of exposed Talking Horses in Calormen is '''very bad'''- to offer a fellow slave a chance of escape. (Also to warn him that he's about to be sold to a pedophile.)

* BadBoss: Shasta flees before he can be sold to the Tarkaan Andradin because his (talking) horse assures him the man is cruel to his slaves. Lasaraleen seems to blur the lines, see InThatOrder below.

* SourSupporter: Aravis is a mild example. She doesn't respect or like Shasta for most of the book, but the narrator tells us that she is "true as steel" and would never desert a companion. Shasta, for his party, is perfectly willing to take the easy route to Narnia on the ''Splendour Hyaline'' rather than join them in the desert crossing.

* PlatonicLifePartners: After the story is over, Bree and Hwin remain close friends for the rest of their lives, and eventually get married "but not to each other." Which makes sense, since they earlier discovered they were cousins when comparing family trees.