History Series / Galavant

** When Isabella returns to Hortensia to banish Wormwood and asks where he is, the AnswerCut is a close-up of his twin to-do lists, the Evil Plan and the Wedding Plan, which quickly pulls back before the lists can be read. They include such gems as "Snub Music/AlanMenken re. Emmy"[[note]]crossed off, as the first season had already failed to win anything[[/note]] and "NO CHILDREN INVITED (except the groom)."
** When Galavant, Richard, and Roberta arrive at the estate of Galavant's father, a sign can be seen for a couple seconds saying it's the home of Arthur Galavant, revealing Galavant is the protagonists ''last'' name, not his family name. Though it's not until the second half of the final episode that his first name is revealed. [[spoiler:It's Gary]].

* ObliviouslyEvil: Whereas Richard is usually a CardCarryingVillain, he is actually ''trying'' to be benevolent in the third episode but his morality system is so [[EvilCannotComprehendGood skewed]] he ends up being terribly offensive and horrifying by complete accident. He takes it UpToEleven during his party: since he burned all the crops in Valencia, save a handcart for himself, he brings it in... and burns the vegetables, because he thought that since they had nothing to eat, he shouldn't have any either. Seeing the Valencians' reactions, he [[LampshadeHanging admits it was ill-conceived.]]
* OddFriendship: Just about every single friendship in the show is this in some way, but Richard takes it UpToEleven by only having odd ones, including with the jester whom he knows is sleeping with his wife.

* NotWearingPantsDream: The second episode opens with Galavant having one.

* AntiLoveSong: Every love song on the show has elements of this.

** Assuming Madalena's telling the truth about her childhood, growing up so poor and hungry that one bad winter her parents made her kill and eat her pet goat is a ''hell'' of a good explanation for both her desire for power and her ruthlessness in getting it.

* ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything: The pirates in Episode 4. For one thing, their ship is stranded on a cliff, so they can't get out to sea. Also, the crew and the captain can't work as a team anymore.

* TheAce: Galavant, prior to the end of the opening, was a grand hero who excelled at being tough and "every other manly virtue". So much so that, even after becoming a BrokenAce, his former reputation is still strong enough to bring him some measure of respect. By the end of the first season, he's back to his old level of skill.

* TheAce: Galavant, prior to the end of the opening. So much so that, even after becoming a BrokenAce, his former reputation is still strong enough to bring him some measure of respect. By the end of the first season, he's back to his old level of skill.

* SayingTooMuch: Isabella, almost, during a song, but then she manages to cover it up.

%%* DistantDuet: Maybe You're Not the Worst Thing Ever.

** Done in the opposite direction, when Gareth then suggests a standardized time-keeping system, only for Richard to say he's talking like a witch. The sundial was invented sometime around 100 BCE.

* FreezeFrameBonus: When Isabella returns to Hortensia to banish Wormwood and asks where he is, the AnswerCut is a close-up of his twin to-do lists, the Evil Plan and the Wedding Plan, which quickly pulls back before the lists can be read. They include such gems as "Snub Music/AlanMenken re. Emmy"[[note]]crossed off, as the first season had already failed to win anything[[/note]] and "NO CHILDREN INVITED (except the groom)."

* SwissCheeseSecurity: While locked in the dungeon, Galavant and Isabella sing a love song, including walking out of their cells for the final part. Afterwards, Galavant wonders how none of them ever checked if the doors were locked in the hours they'd been locked in there.

* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: Madalena in the first episode. Her constant belittling and degrading remarks of Richard, not even realizing he now has the jewel she had him invade Valencia for ''in his hands'', leads him to not tell her about the jewel and set up the BatmanGambit to kill Galavant. This will lead to, by the end of season 2, [[spoiler:Galavant being back in top heroic form, Richard now a good guy with the Excalibur-expy on his way to unite the kingdoms under harmony with his pet dragon, Garath on a somewhat HeelFaceTurn as he now quests to save Madalena from her own corruption, and Madalena fleeing the battle, and Valencia's true king and queen back on their thrones]].

* ObliviouslyEvil: Whereas Richard is usually a CardCarryingVillain, he is actually ''trying'' to be benevolent in the third episode but his morality system is so [[EvilCannotComprehendGood skewed]] he ends up being terribly offensive and horrifying by complete accident. He takes it UpToEleven during his party: since he burned all the crop in Valencia, save a handcart for himself, he brings it in... and burns the vegetables, because he thought that since they had nothing to eat, he shouldn't have any either. Seeing the Valencians' reactions, he [[LampshadeHanging admits it was ill-conceived.]]
* OddFriendship: Just about every single friendship in the show is this in some way, but Richard takes it UpToEleven by only having odd ones, including with the jester who’s sleeping with his wife.

** The last episode of season 2, on the other hand, has a recap so epic that ''all'' the characters present burst into applause, including the two opposing armies.
* PutOnABus: Vincenzo (Chef) and Gwynne run away from the castle in Season 2, Episode 4, as Gwynne can't stand living semi-well to do, and Chef won't leave her. They return briefly in the last episode, and are shown perfectly happy living in abject poverty.

* SleepsWithEveryoneButYou: See ReallyGetsAround above.

* TamperingWithFoodAndDrink: In the seventh episode, [[spoiler:Gwynne and the Cook plot to poison the royals' feast. However, Cook can't go through with it and only laced the food with allergens so they'll only get slightly sick.]]

** When Gareth gets a nut bowl for his birthday, he points out 'They'll never fit".

* PrecisionFStrike: Several. One is in early season 2, where the allies of Princess Isabella have figured out how to remotely communicate - but they need something large and flashy to do it. Isabella looks at her giant ruby amulet, and then sits back and thinks about how honestly terrible the kiss between her and Galavant truly was. At the end of the song, Chef's still there, and it startles her.

* AlterKocker: ''Everyone'' in Sid's home town. They even have a song about it.
* AmbiguouslyBrown: Isabella lampshades this when she refers to herself as "ethnically hard to pin down". Her actress, Karen David, is of mixed Indian and Chinese descent.

** Done in the opposite direction, when Gareth then suggests a standardized time-keeping system, only for Richard to say he's talking like a witch. The sun dial was invented sometime around 100 BCE.
** In the pilot episode, Galavant is explaining his backstory to Izzy and comments, "You can't fight genetics." While theories on heredity have been kicked around for thousands of years by physicians in many different cultures, modern genetic studies didn't emerge until the nineteenth century.

* ArbitrarySkepticism: Nobody believes Sid when he says he walked into the Enchanted Forest without knowing that it was a gay bar, even though Richard did the same thing (well, Richard is known to be a bit of an idiot...).
* ArtisticLicenseHistory: Being a parody there is a lot of this but two things really stand out.

* DesignatedGirlFight: Madelena vs. Isabella at the end of season 2. Played with in that it's a showdown between the characters in their roles as leaders of their respective factions, not just the women being paired off in a general melee.

* FemmeFatale: Madalena.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: In "Do The D'Dew", Galavant is having difficulty, trying to get his Zombie Army to focus. However, [[spoiler: during Richard & Roberta's LoveConfession Song]], they all seem to be paying attention and [[spoiler: act as the Chorus]]. This Foreshadow's Galavant's later realization that [[spoiler: the Zombie Army responds to Love]].

* FunWithAcronyms: The Dark, Dark Evil Ways, or D'Dew, pronounced duh-dew. Lampshaded by Gareth, who asks why it isn't just called "dew". And as part of the season cliffhanger, we have [[spoiler:the DEL, the dark evil lord]].

* GroinAttack:
** During ''She'll Be Mine''
---> '''King Richard:''' I want to skewer him with swords and slowly twist 'em / All around his reproductive system. / Wooon't thaaat beee diiiviiine?

** Galavant delivers one to [[spoiler:Death]] in "Love and Death".

** The song "Do the D'Dew" was inspired by the music of Music/TheShermanBrothers. It certainly has a similar feel to [[Film/MaryPoppins "A Spoonful of Sugar"]]

* KnightOfCerebus: Played with. When Richard's brother Kingsley shows up, he seems like a very serious and competent villain and it appears that shit is about to get real. However, he winds up playing a relatively small part in things since [[spoiler:Madalena soon tires of his lack of regard/respects for her and women in general, and betrays him for more power.]]

* PinkySwear: Richard can't just return Tad Cooper to the people he bought him from, he "pinky swore and said no backsies".

* ThePowerOfLove: In season 2, Galavant gains a zombie army, but has trouble controlling it until he realizes that [[spoiler:he came back from the dead for love]] and they respond to love as well.

* PutOnABus: Vicenzio (Chef) and Gwyndolin run away from the castle in season 2, episode 4, as Gwen can't stand living semi-well to do, and Chef won't leave her. They return briefly in the last episode, and are shown perfectly happy living in abject poverty.

* ReallyGetsAround: Madalena's taste in men is [[SleepsWithEveryoneButYou anyone but Richard]]. There's a line outside her door of men she's "auditioning" to be her new consort and as one comes out, adjusting his trousers, we hear her announce, in a rather bored voice, "Next!" Later, a shot of her in bed shows her with a man on either side. Madalena makes references to this in a song in Season 2, singing "I like getting randy with whoever's handy!"

* {{Retcon}}: Isabella's amulet, which she has always worn everyday, is central to the plot of ''World's Best Kiss''. Lampshaded when the chef and Gwynn keep pointing out that it has never been seen before, although Isabella and Galavant both insist that it's her established IconicItem.
** The season 1 finale has several people - including Gareth - comment on how great Galavant and Isabella's kiss was. By the second season, it's considered that even people who weren't there know it was the worst kiss ever.

* SequelHook: The second season does this explicitly just in case they get unexpectedly renewed again. The main plot is all wrapped up, but [[spoiler: Madelina is getting evil magic training so Gareth teams up with Sid to save her from herself. Plus Tad Cooper is all grown up now, and Richard hasn't actually united the kings yet.]]

* TrueLove: No matter how much the show pokes fun at fairytale tropes, this trope was played straight. Gal found his actual true love in Isabella, not Madalena. Madalena found true love in Gareth, who knows this that he will go save her from herself. Richard found true love in Roberta.

But anyway high-ho!\\

* ThoseTwoBadGuys: Gareth and the Cook often serve as a funny duo of sorts for King Richard.

* HollywoodPudgy:
** Gareth makes several jokes at the expense of Isabella's weight. This is lampshaded by King Richard, who points out that she's a hundred pounds soaking wet. It's then subverted when Gareth mentions that the "really skinny" women he likes are "really, really unhealthy." In fact, he also likes really fat women. He is just not fond of anything in-between.
** Relatedly, there's not much difference between Galavant in-shape and Galavant out-of-shape. Basically his shirt is looser.

* BerserkButton: The eunuch makes the mistake of joking about Madelena's infidelity to Richard. All other jokes about him Richard took in stride, but this one makes the smile drop from his face. He promptly declares that the party's over, the eunuch is to be executed, and leaves enraged.

* DudeNotFunny: InUniverse: King Richard has a horrible sense of humor.
** Even the jester thinks Richard's bit mocking Valencia is inappropriate.

* EarnYourHappyEnding: [[InvokedTrope Explicitly]]. Spoilers for plot summation quote from the final episode:

* GoYeHeroesGoAndDie: ''Today We Rise'', sung by Sid as he and the peasants of Valencia prepare to storm the castle. It's filled to the brim with lyrics about how the entire attack will be pointless and they will all die in vain. They all end up ditching him by the end of the song.

* HypnotizeThePrincess: Wormwood's initial plan to grab power is to use an enchanted tiara to mind-control Isabella. She spends a couple of episodes in his power, being super-enthusiastic about everything he commands or suggests, but the spell is broken when the tiara is knocked off during Princess Jubilee's big song number.

* BackForTheFinale: Parodied. Sid brings the pirates, gay club members, giants, dwarfs and Princes Jubilee's gang to the final battle, but because of budget restraints their leaders Nick Frost, Sheridan Smith and Hugh Bonneville couldn't make it.

* ItIsPronouncedTroPAY: Eliza''be''ta

** ''Eliza[[ItIsPronouncedTroPAY e]]tta

* RealityEnsues:
** Played for laughs when, after undergoing a TrainingMontage to get back in shape for a joust, it turns out Galavant can hardly move when the joust actually happens because he trained ''too hard''.
** Also, when Galavant hands the pirate king his sword, holding it by the blade, and cutting his hand as a result when the pirate king pulls it out of his hand. Extremely funny, considering that a few minutes (both in and out-universe) earlier the same sword is shown as very dull, but RuleOfFunny applies.
** When Galavant convinces Richard to just assassinate Kingsley, Richard loudly announces it to the whole pub, and they both then walk the castle drunkenly singing about it. By the time they actually get to the bedroom there's an ambush in place.
** Hortensia is run by a child prince. When Isabella [[spoiler:opens his armory, she finds it full of toy horses, and chocolate-shaped weapons in foil]]. The boy lampshades this by saying maybe it wasn't a good idea to let a child be in charge of something like this.

* TrainingMontage: In Episode 2, when Isabella decides to make Galavant return to top form. It's even complete with a pseudo-'70s-rock song called "Stand down!" [[spoiler:RealityEnsues, though, and the montage makes Galavant's body so stiff he can't move the next day.]]

* NotSoDifferent: Taken to a ridiculous extreme with the ''Giants vs Dwarves'' feud. The "Giants" and "Dwarves" are all around 5'10" and look so similar that even they occasionally lose track of who's who.

* KnightOfCerebus: Played with. When Richard's brother Kingsley shows up, he seems like a very serious and competent villain and it appears that shit is about to get real. However, he winds up playing a relatively small part in things since [[spoiler:Madalena soon tires of lack of regard for her and women in general, and betrays him for more power.]]