History Literature / TheInkWorldTrilogy

* WildCard: [[spoiler:Dustfinger in the first book]]
* WordPower: The whole point of the second and third book, even more than in the first. [[spoiler: Maggie reads herself and Farid into the Inkworld with words written by herself. Later she saves Mo's life by reading and rereading a passage written by Fengolio how a father survives an almost fatal wound and always hears his daughter's voice. Later she sings and recites all the ballads about the Bluejay to protect Mo from being caught or hurt. And Orpheus - having no confidence in his own words - more or less steals Fengolio's words to put them together anew to manipulate the Inkworld as he wishes. And Fengolio writing Cosimo BackFromTheDead ...]] let's say in a world made of words words are more dangerous weapons than swords.

TheMovie came out in late 2008, starring Eliza Bennett as Meggie, Andy Serkis as Capricorn (who apparently likes duct tape), Paul Bettany as Dustfinger, and BrendanFraser as Mo.

* HotShoujoDad: The books imply that Mo's attractive (several female characters cannot help but swoon at the Bluejay), and has a sexy voice. And in the movie, of course, he's played by BrendanFraser.

* HypotheticalCasting: In the back, Cornelia Funke mentioned that she always imagined Mo to be a bit like BrendanFraser, and then the casting went like that for the movie.

TheMovie came out in late 2008, starring Eliza Bennett as Meggie, Andy Serkis as Capricorn (who apparently likes duct tape), Paul Bettany as Dustfinger, and Brendan Fraser as Mo.

* HotShoujoDad: The books imply that Mo's attractive (several female characters cannot help but swoon at the Bluejay), and has a sexy voice. And in the movie, of course, he's played by Brendan Fraser.

* HypotheticalCasting: In the back, Cornelia Funke mentioned that she always imagined Mo to be a bit like Brendan Fraser, and then the casting went like that for the movie.

* CompleteMonster: Pick a villain, any villain.

* DynamicCharacter: Mo goes from a [[NonActionGuy peace-loving]] [[Bookworm book binder]] and protective-but-fun single father to a

* Foreshadowing: There is an unintentional (as Funke wasn't planning on writing any sequels at that point) bit of foreshadowing near the beginning of ''Inkheart'' where Mo playfully threatens to cut Dustfinger into "very thin slices" if he continues to tell Meggie scary stories. This becomes something of a FunnyAneurysm later on when Mo becomes [[spoiler: JustLikeRobinHood]] and starts regularly [[spoiler: cutting people to bits for real]].

** In ''Inkdeath'', [[spoiler: Mortola]] has been set up as a major villain, having tried to kill Meggie and [[TheLancer the Black Prince]] - and nearly succeeding with the Prince - only to be shot by one of the Adderhead's soldiers almost at random.

* DisneyVillainDeath: Mortola, [[spoiler:[[BigBad Capricorn's]] [[EvilIsOneBigHappyFamily mother]], also known as [[CharacterNameAlias The Magpie]]]], falls to her death in ''Inkdeath'' after she is struck by an arrow thrown by Orpheus while trying to fly away in her magpie form.

* CameBackWrong: Comsimo.

* DisneyVillainDeath: Mortola, [[BigBad Capricorn's]] [[EvilIsOneBigHappyFamily mother]], also known as [[CharacterNameAlias The Magpie]], falls to her death in ''Inkdeath'' after she is struck by an arrow thrown by Orpheus while trying to fly away in her magpie form.

The series centers on Meggie Folchart and her father, Mo. Mo is gifted with the ability to cause anything he reads aloud to appear in front of him. He believes it only applies to inanimate objects until he accidentally brings to life a fictional EvilOverlord named Capricorn, along with his knife-happy [[TheDragon Dragon]], Basta, and the [[GoodScarsEvilScars scarred]] fire-eater Dustfinger. At the same time, Mo accidentally sends his wife into the fictional universe, [[TrappedInAnotherWorld trapping her there.]] [[NiceJobBreakingItHero Nice going]].

* BadassBookworm: Mortimer.

* BecomingTheMask: Mortimer becomes the Bluejay, nuch to the distress of his wife and daughter.

* MayDecemberRomance: Brianna not-so-subtly sleeping with Cosmio.

* ParentService: In the movie, [[EstrogenBrigadeBait Dustfinger]]'s [[PlayingWithFire fire-breathing]] ShirtlessScene is absolutely this.

Needless to say, Capricorn then goes on to do what all villains do best (TakeOverTheWorld, what else?), and it is up to Meggie to save the day. Along with her go Fenoglio, the author who created Capricorn; Farid, a young boy from ''ArabianNights''; and her bibliophile aunt, Elinor.

* DaddysLittleVillain:

* DrivenToSuicide: in ''Inkdeath'' Elinor says this will happen to her if Darius leaves her alone in order to convince him to stay and help her.

** Arguably [[spoiler:Capricorn's death at the hands of the Shadow]].
** In ''Inkdeath'', [[spoiler: Capricorn's mother, Mortola, has been set up as a major villain, having tried to kill Meggie and [[TheLancer the Black Prince]] - and nearly succeeding with the Prince - only to be shot by one of the Adderhead's soldiers almost at random.]]
* EldritchAbomination: The Shadow. It's immortal, invulnerable, created out of the ashes of countless of sacrifices and it can kill with a mere touch.
* EmpathyPet: Gwin, Dustfinger's pet marten. Has two tiny horns on its head, but is otherwise a normal animal. Considering that Dustfinger's world is full of magical creatures, this is somewhat surprising.

* EvilOverlord: Capricorn fits this almost to a "t", as does the Adderhead.

* CameBackStrong: [[spoiler: Dustfinger and Mo]], with powers and insight they had no possessed before meeting Death.

* CastingGag: Paul Bettany's real-life wife, Jennifer Connelly, plays Dustfinger's wife in a cameo.

* DarkerAndEdgier: Oh, ever so much so.
* DeliberateValuesDissonance: Between modern-day Earth and the medieval-inspired Inkworld, in spades.

* BreakTheHaughty: Averted. This could nearly happened to both Elinor (in ''Inkheart'') and Fenoglio (''Inkspell'' and ''Inkdeath''), but after everything both bounced back to themselves perfectly.

* AbsenceMakesTheHeartGoYonder: Roxanne. By the time Dustinger finally returns home, he has been gone ten years, and Roxanne has a son by another man who is nearly that old, so she can't have waited for him very long.

* AbsenseMakesTheHeartGoYonder: Roxanne. By the time Dustinger finally returns home, he has been gone ten years, and Roxanne has a son by another man who is nearly that old, so she can't have waited for him very long.

* AntiHero: Dustfinger. At one point, he veers into LovableTraitor territory, but events teach him quickly and painfully that he's made a terrible mistake by trusting Capricorn to keep his word.
* BabiesEverAfter: [[spoiler: Resa is pregnant in the third book.]]
* BackFromTheDead: [[spoiler: Dustfinger exchanged his life for Farid and brought him back. HoYay ensued. AFTERWARDS Mo brought Dustfinger back (without sacrificing his life though). Cosimo also counts though he is not really himself afterwards.]]

* ShipSinking: After two novels of setup, this Troper found himself with [[spoiler:a sudden relationship between Meggie and... some inventor guy, whilst the back-and-forth Meggie/Farid Ship hit a reef after being hit by Air-to-Sea missiles. I was estranged.]]
** [[spoiler: Made worse in the behinning of Inkdeath; Farid and Meggie have GOT together. Or so the reader thinks, until a few chapters before the end...it's over? Huh?? ]]
*** [[spoiler: ItGotWorse. Later in the story, Fenoglio tells Meggie about a story he once wrote about a bookkeeper and an inventor marrying... Something which [[SarcasmMode obviously justifies]] her dumping Farid for some dude who gets barely five lines in the entire novel.]]
*** [[spoiler: Except how throughout the whole book she is increasingly angry at him for being more in love with Dustfinger than her. I mean, yeah, the M/F Ship sank pretty harshly, but the book was building up to the seperation. Hooking up with what's-his-face, I dunno about, but the dumping part wasn't exactly out of nowhere.]]
**** [[spoiler:Could have been that, while Farid had been more infatuated with Dustfinger than with Meggie, the guy she ended up with was actually ''nice'' to her. He wasn't the most interesting of characters, yes, but at least he didn't cheat on her or sulk because his teacher loves his wife more than him. It's kind of implied that Farid isn't going to change, since he's been that way the entire time - it just took her a while to realise it. And besides, who WOULDN'T go out with a guy who was not only funny, but smart and able to make flying machines?]]
* ShipTease: [[JustFriends Dustfinger and Resa]], which is painfully teased throughout the trilogy. Not that anything could come of it since they're both happily married to ''other people,'' but their relationship is [[BirdsOfAFeather so extremely close]] that even Mo, Meggie, Farid, ''and'' Roxanne at different points of the trilogy have their [[EveryoneCanSeeIt suspicions]] about it.
** Well, maybe Resa is HappilyMarried, but it's not as certain for Dustfinger.
** Also it's heavily implied that Resa and Dustfinger had something going on while she wwas trapped in the Inkworld. However she still loved Mo and told him about whatever there had been happening between her and Dustfinger.

* CrowningMomentOfAwesome: Several, but one of the best is when [[spoiler: Mortimer]] and [[spoiler: Dustfinger]] come back from the dead.

* DroppedABridgeOnHim: Arguably [[spoiler:Capricorn's death at the hands of the Shadow]].

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: Considering the books are geared at children, it's surprising how many times they say words like "damn", "hell", and "bastard", especially in Inkspell.
** Not really. The books were originally written in German and Germans don't have that many problems with cusswords at all, so they obviously have a greater tolerance for them even in works for children.

* HotShoujoDad: The books do imply that Mo's attractive (several female characters cannot help but swoon at the Bluejay) ...And has a sexy voice.
** And in the movie he's played by Brendan Fraser - hello!

* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler: Orpheus, at the end of the series, escapes into the northern regions of the Inkworld and presumably escapes any retribution for his actions, although the ending implies he may have ultimately frozen to death. Unless Funke decides to write another book in the series, it's likely that he never receives any punishment...]]
** This trope was lampshaded by Fenoglio himself in the first book.

* LargeHam: Orpheus. And Fenoglio at times.
** In TheMovie, Andy Serkiss is clearly enjoying himself as Capricorn.

* MeaningfulName...or at least an [[InformedAbility Informed Meaningful Name]], since if ''I'' were an aspiring EvilOverlord who wanted to choose an [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast intimidating astrology-themed name]] for myself, it sure as hell wouldn't be ''Capricorn.''
** Also goes for certain nicknames, like "Silvertongue" for Mo.

** The fact that it seemed to be used to help justify the below ShipSinking doesn't help.
* MrExposition: Dustfinger when he [[InformedAbility tells Meggie]] just how incredibly ''evil'' Capricorn is supposed to be.
** On the other hand, the novels describe in painful and realistic detail Capricorn's methods of terrorizing people into obedience, including threatening their children and a few well-placed murders.
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname:There are several cases of this in the Inkheart books: We are told that "Capricorn" is a name [[MeaningfulRename he gave himself]], but we never know what his real name is. The same with Orpheus (who gets it double since Farid calls him only "Cheeseface"). The Magpie's real name is Mortola, but she is very rarely referred to that way in the first book. "The Adderhead" and "the Laughing Prince/Prince of Sighs" are names given to them by their subjects. Also the Barn Owl, Nettle, Firefox, Sootbird, the Piper, Flatnose, Cockerell, Cloud-Dancer, and the Black Prince, as well as all the robbers in Book 3.
** Even though it's never mentioned that he might have another name, Dustfinger could easily be an example of this as well. Since his world is full of regular names like Roxanne, Basta, and Minerva, it's probably safe to assume that this is a nickname rather than what his parents named him.
** Mortimer is an interesting case of this. While most people call him by his proper name, Dustfinger, Capricorn, and the other characters from ''Inkheart'' refuse to call him anything but "Silvertongue", which he doesn't like. He is also known only by a nickname to his daughter, Meggie, who "had never called her father anything but 'Mo'" and his wife.

* {{Refugee from TV Land}}: Dustfinger constantly complains about all of the bad aspects of the Real World and wishes for Mo to read him back into Inkheart all through the first book.
** Turned UpToEleven in the film. He doesn't seem to have much of a personality outside wanting to go home.