History Literature / TheShadowOfTheWind

** Julián Carax [[spoiler: was conceived when his mother had an affair with Mr. Aldaya because Carax Sr. refused to give her a child. Carax Sr. then spent the next several years violently abusing both Julián and his mother, leading to his generally mordant worldview. Julián then briefly get a reprieve when Mr. Aldaya decided to make Julián his heir, only for Julián to unknowingly have an affair with his own biological sister]].

* DeathByChildbirth: [[spoiler: Julián's lover dies in childbirth]].
* DeliberateValuesDissonance: The casual mistreatment of women, which was common during the fifties in Spain. One older (and even more dissonant) woman talking about Julian's father casually mentions that sometimes men need to beat their wives to keep them in line.
* DespairEventHorizon: [[spoiler: Julián, after finding out that Penélope died, even worse is that she died with their child as the gravestone marks]].

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Daniel's second surname is Martín, which would be later retconned as Gispert in the next book.

** [[spoiler: Daniel ends with a caring wife and a lovely child ten years after the story. And he only needed to be beaten up twice, stalked by a weird man, be threatened by the secret police and put on a government watch list, and be shot in the chest to get it.]]

* AssholeVictim: [[spoiler: Mr. Aldaya]] is a misogynistic, entitled, verbally and physically abusive tycoon who [[spoiler: causes his own teenage daughter's death by locking her alone in her room and forcing her to give birth by herself]]. No one is sorry when he [[spoiler: has a nervous breakdown and jumps into shark infested waters]].

** Fermín Romero de Torres reveals this name is an alias, but we never do find out his real name. A newspaper in the novel, gives his name as Antonio José Gutiérrez Alcayete, and given the newspaper gets his informations from Fumero, it could actually be the real one - in fact, the article bills the guy named Alcayete from the province of Cáceres, Extremadura, which is precisely the place Fermín himself mentions later as his native land. However, as mentioned above, no confirmation is given.
** It's also implied that at least some of Fermín's most outrageous claims are true, as Fumero reveals Fermín lived really in Cuba and was in contact with the time's upper class just as he claims, but not much is clarified about it. That he is a former spy, at the very least, turns out to be very true.

* AuthorAppeal: Being a novelist himself, Zafon makes all of his positive characters highly literate and conversant in fine literature, while the villainous characters are all depicted as either proudly illiterate or outright contemptuous of books. The most extreme example is Fumero, whose introduction finds him telling Daniel that reading is a waste of time; we later learn that he owns all of Julian Carax's books, but has never actually read any of them, and [[spoiler: only keeps them on a shelf in his home to remind him of his contempt for the writer.]]

* BeenThereShapedHistory: Fructuós Gelabert was a real-life pioneering film maker from Barcelona that made what is considered the first Spanish movie with a plot. According to the book, he funded this by getting paid by eccentric millionaire Jausà in exchange of filming his mansion [[ItMakesSenseInContext so he can catch the spirit of his cuban lover]] After Jausà disapears, he gets a huge check from Mr. Aldaya to never mention the matter again.

* BookEnds: A Zafón trademark, along with the FirstPersonSmartass narrative.

* BunnyEarsLawyer: Fermin is a traumatized war veteran prone to breaking down into screaming fits who also spends much of his time openly lusting over every woman he sees and who'll periodically stop what he's doing to go into aimless, rambling monologues about actresses he finds attractive or random stuff he's thinking. He's also a trained spy with years of espionage under his belt who gets down to business when things get serious.

** In one chapter Daniel recounts how he met his friend Tomás when Daniel insulted his sister Beatriz and Tomás punched him. [[spoiler: She ends having a larger role on the story than her brother, ending as Daniel's romantic interest and eventual wife.]]
** While Daniel and Fermín where investigating, they stopped in a restaurant where a man was impressed by how much Fermín could eat, and was then seen on their way back in the train laughing at Fermín discussing with some nuns. He turned out to be [[spoiler: one of Fumero's henchmen, Palacios, that was following them.]]
** Fumero might be considered a retroactive one. When he first introduces himself, he shows his ID that gives his full name as ''Francisco Javier Fumero''. So if you pay attention [[spoiler: you might not be taken by surprise that one of Julian former school friends was named Javier]]

* DarkAndTroubledPast: Several characters-

** Julian Carax [[spoiler: was conceived when his mother had an affair with Senor Aldaya because Carax Sr. refused to give her a child. Carax Sr. then spent the next several years violently abusing both Julian and his mother, leading to his generally mordant worldview. Julian then briefly get a reprieve when Senor Aldaya decided to make Julian his heir, only for Julian to unknowingly have an affair with his own biological sister]].

* DevelopmentHell: In-Universe. Master Neri, Clara's Piano teacher, has been composing a symphony for some time. It remained in that stage during all the years that Daniel visited Clara. Ten years after the story, we are told he is still working on it.
* DisabledLoveInterest: Clara, Gustavo Barcelo's blind niece, the object of Daniel's teenaged affections.

* EveryoneWentToSchoolTogether: When Daniel and Fermín goes to San Gabriel to look into Julian's past, the first priest they encounter there happens to be a former friend of him. [[spoiler: And they were also friends with Fumero.]]
* FakeNationality: InUniverse. At one point before the story, Fermín presents himself as being Cuban.
* ForeignCultureFetish: Barceló is an great admirer of the XIX century, to the point of dressing in the old-fashioned style and using a monocle and pipe, both for show.

* GeniusBruiser, GentleGiant: Both apply to Tomás Aguilar
* GiveMeASword: In the final fight Fumero lost his gun during a fight with [[spoiler: Julian]] and couldn't find it when he got the upper hand. So he ordered his subordinate Palacios to hand him his gun. [[spoiler: But he refused.]]
* HappilyMarried: [[spoiler: both Daniel and Fermín ended like this with their respective interests]]
* HeelFaceTurn: [[spoiler: Palacios refusing to give his gun to Fumero for killing Daniel.]]
* HeroesWantRedheads: Daniel for [[spoiler: Beatriz]].

* HighClassGlass: Barceló, as part of his admiration for the XIX century.

** Mr Aguilar actually instructed Tomás' tutors to act as if he were stupid.

** Nuria's former boss, Cabestany, said that his son would bankrupt his Publisher House in six months after his death. She said he was really optimistic, it took two months.

** La Bernarda. She believes that Barceló's agnosticism is some kind of illness in his throat.

* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: In the story's background, Jausà dies in an unspecificed accident while inspecting one of the films where he was trying to capture the soul of his dead lover. His partner Ricardo Aldaya checks it up personally and then burns it, telling the technician to just forget about it. Aldaya was aware that Jausà's experiments were all nonsense, but this reaction seems to imply... ''something''.

** And again between Daniel and [[spoiler: his son,]] at the end of the book, mirroring the very first chapter.

* MoralityChain: [[spoiler: When Julián finds out Penélope died years ago, his world falls apart and he starts burning his own books.]] Until Daniel appears in his life.

* NoNameGiven: Fermín Romero de Torres is an alias, of course. We never do find out his real name. A newspaper in the novel gives his name as Antonio José Gutiérrez Alcayete. Given the newspaper gets his information from Fumero, it could actually be the real one - in fact, the article bills the guy named Alcayete from Cáceres, Extremadura, which is precisely the place Fermín himself mentions later as his native land.

* OlderThanTheyLook: If the info about Fermín given in newspapers is true, which is implied to be, he's ''51'' by this point of the story. As ''Literature/TheAngelsGame'' establishes Daniel was born when his father was in his early thirties, this means Fermín is around the same age as Mr. Sempere, who is described as and behaves like a significantly older man in both books. (Of course, this could also mean that Mr. Sempere is prematurely aged due to all the drama his life.)

* PosthumousCharacter: Guess who? [[spoiler: Subverted with Julián, who turns out to be still alive. Nuria Monfort is a straighter example. And also Miquel]]

* ShoutOut: Barceló referenced Theatre/{{Pygmalion}} when he hired Bernarda. Even stating that she would be his Eliza, and he would be her Prof. Higgings.
* SnowMeansDeath: During the last part of the story a strange snowstorm hits Barcelona out of nowhere. [[spoiler: And is during this storm that both Daniel and Fumero died. (But Daniel gets better).]]

** Julián and Penélope fall in love with each other, but they only get one night together before he is forced to flee Barcelona because of the wrath of her father, in the end she dies at childbirth.

** Late in the book we confirm that Fermín Romero de Torres is not the man's real name. But he confesses to Daniel that it might as well be now, saying that the other man was tortured to death in Montjüic.
** Lain Coubert character has shades of this as well. Not only he doesn't want to remember anything about his previous life, [[spoiler: but wants to erase it as well by burning his books.]]

* VillainWithGoodPublicity: Again, Fumero, who always seems to be on the winning side.[[spoiler: He falls from grace as he dies and his plaque is now hidden behind the soda machine at the police station]].

** "In seven days [[spoiler: I will be dead.]]"

Set in Barcelona after the Spanish Civil War, the story follows Daniel, who, as a young boy, discovers a long-forgotten book in a secret library entitled ''The Shadow of the Wind'' by Julián Carax. Daniel tries to seek out other books by the author, but can find nothing and no information on Carax himself. Then he hears stories of a strange man calling himself Lain Coubert, the name of the [[{{Satan}} devil]] in Carax's book, who is seeking out and burning all copies of the mysterious author's novels.

* BabiesEverAfter: [[spoiler: Daniel and Bea's son. Fermín as well ended with four kids.]]

* UndyingLoyalty: Once Daniel and his father rescue Fermin from the streets, he swears this to the Sempere family. In the epilogue, [[spoiler: Daniel confirms he kept his word]].

** [[spoiler: Daniel ends with a caring wife and a lovely child ten years after the story. And he only needed to be beaten up twice, scared by a weird man, being threatened by the goverment, and be shot to get it.]]

* DarkisEvil: Sadistic, [[spoiler: matricidal]] Fumero stands out in a crowd due to the fact he only ever wears black suits and a black fedora.

* AnimalMotifs: Fumero is associated with insects: cold, calculating, heartless.

** Fermín himself is introduced just as a homeless man asking Daniel to let him enter the house to avoid the rain. And then helping him after he is beaten up. He ended being hired by Daniel's father in the following chapters.
** In one chapter Daniel recounts how he met his friend Tomás when Daniel insulted his sister Beatriz and Tomás punched him. [[spoiler: She ended having a larger role on the story than her brother, ending as Daniel's romantic interest and eventual wife.]]

* CreepyChild: Inspector Fumero, naturally, who used to capture cats and pigeons and torture them for hours. Julián was a milder version.
* DarkAndTroubledPast: Fermín has obviously story with the police, sporting even torture scars. Towards the end of the novel, he eventually breaks down and tells Daniel his story. [[spoiler:He was a Republican spy who was arrested trying to smuggle his superiors in the Generalitat out of the country, after which he was tortured by Fumero and abandoned in the ciy. After being rescued and healed by a widow, he tried to return to Cuba, but was arrested again and spent years entering and exiting the Modelo jail as a homeless until encountering Daniel.]]

* DeliberateValuesDissonance: The casual mistreatment of women which was true during the fifties in Spain. One older (and even more dissonant) woman talking about Julian's dad says that while she understand that a man must hit his wife sometimes for her to obey him, he just hit her out of nowhere.

* DisabledLoveInterest: Clara, Gustavo Barcelo's blind niece, was the object of Daniel's teenaged affections.

The novel became retroactively the first installment of the loose tetralogy known as ''The Cementary of Forgotten Books'', being followed by ''Literature/TheAngelsGame'' in 2008.

* MindScrew: Thanks to multiple {{Reveal}}s [[JigsawPuzzlePlot that leave out some important particular.]] [[AuthorAppeal Zafón does it with]] ''[[AuthorAppeal every single novel]]'' [[AuthorAppeal he writes.]]

* MurderTheHypotenuse: [[spoiler: Fumero ''tried'' to do this to Julián.]]

* NoNameGiven: Fermín Romero de Torres is an alias, of course. We never do find out his real name. A newspaper in the novel gives his name as Antonio José Gutiérrez Alcayete. Given the newspaper gets his informations from Fumero, it could actually be the real one - in fact, the article bills the guy named Alcayete from Cáceres, Extremadura, which is precisely the place Fermín himself mentions later as his native land.

''The Shadow of the Wind'' is a 2001 best-selling mystery novel by Spanish author Carlos Ruiz Zafón.

* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: Daniel ended in the end of two of these. Fermín also got one from Fumero.

** Fumero might be considered a retroactive one. When he first introduces himself, he shows his ID that gives his full name as ''Francisco Javier Fumero Almuñiz''. So if you pay attention [[spoiler: you might not be taken by surprise that one of Julian former school friends was named Javier]]

* NoNameGiven: Fermín Romero de Torres is an alias, of course. We never do find out his real name. A newspaper in the novel gives his name as Antonio José Gutiérrez Alcayete. Given the newspaper gets his informations from Fumero, it could actually be the real one - in fact, the article bills the guy named Alcayete from Cáceres, Extremadura, which is precisely the place Fermín himself mentions later as his native town.

The novel became the first installment of the tetralogy known as ''The Cementary of the Forgotten Books'', followed by ''The Angel's Game'' in 2008.

The novel became the first installment of the tetralogy known as ''The Cementary of the Forgotten Book'', followed by ''Literature/TheAngelsGame'' in 2008.

* BeenThereShapedHistory: Fructuós Gelabert was a pioneering film maker from Barcelona that made what is considered the first Spanish movie with a plot. Apparently he funded this by getting paid by eccentric millionaire Jausà in exchange of filming his mansion [[ItMakesSenseInContext so he can catch the spirit of his cuban lover]], and when he disapears, by a huge check from Mr. Aldaya to never mention the matter again.

* NouveauRiche: The industrial period.

** "Julián and Penélope are siblings."

* BeenThereShapedHistory: Fructuós Gelabert was a pioneering film maker from Barcelona that made what is considered the first Spanish movie with a plot. Apparently he funded this by getting paid by excentric millionaire Jausà in exchange of filming his mansion [[ItMakesSenseInContext so he can catch the spirit of his cuban lover]], and when he disapears, by a huge check from Mr. Aldaya to never mention the matter again.

** When the Aldaya's fortune began to go down, some people believed that Don Ricardo was just an idiot that wasted what his father founded.

* TheReveal: [[spoiler: the identity of Laìn Coubert is quite shocking, especially after the author spent most of the book trying to make the reader think it was Jorge Aldaya]]
* RomanticFalseLead: Clara is introduced as Daniel love interest in the story, but after the PrimalScene she pretty much disappears from the story, only making a couple of brief appearances.

** Julián and Penélope, fall in love with each other, but they only get one night together before he is forced to flee Barcelona because of the wrath of her father, in the end she dies at childbirth.

* StrangeMindsThinkAlike: Daniel says that finding The Shadow of the Wind in the cementery felt like the book was actually waiting for him since before he was even born. When [[spoiler: Beatriz]] chooses a book to take out, she says the exact same thing.

** Mirroring the above example, Daniél and Tomás are best friends until the former gets involved with the latter' sister, Bea; by the end of the book their friendship has been damaged and Tomás goes on to live in Germany, never speaking with Daniél again.