History Series / Knightmare

* BadassBeard: Treguard

** There's no visible main antagonist, with Mogdred being mentioned several times, but never actually being seen.

Spawned a number of {{Gamebooks}} and [[TheBoardGame a board game]].

* MercyMode: One team were given the spell TRUTH (never otherwise seen in the game), allowing them to pass the Level 1 wall monster despite not knowing the answer to any of its riddles. It's theorised that in the original take, their quest ''did'' end at this point, and the sequence where they receive the spell was part of a second chance given to them by the production team.

* RealLifeWritesThePlot: It's been all but confirmed that in series 2, one of the teams actually failed to answer even one of the wall monster's questions, which should have meant that the dungeoneer got eaten. However, due to technical limitations not allowing them to depict a dungeoneer actually being eaten, and there not being another team to take their place, they ended up having to refilm the entire quest and work in a "Truth" spell that allowed the team to bypass the wall monster. They still died two rooms later, however (by which point the next team had presumably arrived).

** Early series had characters which existed solely to chase lingerers out of rooms (Automatum the Mechanical Warrior; the Cavernwights; the "less-than-human" knight sometimes known as Behemoth). Later series did the same by means of the aforementioned floating skull, the Pooka (a kind of menacing green-vegetable-ghost), and Lord Fear's own grasping hand.

* SteamPunk: Automatum the Mechanical Warrior, in the early seasons. In the later seasons, there were the "Descenders", voice-activated lifts/elevators by any other name. And Lord Fear occasionally referred to "Technomagic" which he presumably used to create the Dreadnought.

** To dispel a spell, characters had to recite the correct letters in the wrong order; for example, "S-W-O-R-D" could be dispelled by reciting "D-R-O-W-S" or "O-D-W-R-S" or any of a large number of other possibilities. Teams still managed to get it wrong. One famous team had "S-H-R-O-U-D" cast upon their player by Mogdred. This was big. No-one had ever faced Mogdred before. To cancel it, they tried "D-U-R-H-S". They then tried "D-U-R-H-S" again, to the same effect. Mogdred dispelled it silently, then recast it, spelling it out -- and Treguard began to moan "Oooooo... Ooooo..." After another attempt, with "Stalactite", Treguard moaned "Let... ter... Oooo..." Finally, they came up with "Dispel! O-S-R-D-H-U." Mogdred fled in terror of the incredibly-bad spelling. The team's seeming unwillingness to write down spells came back to bite them again when they were given the spell 'Shovel' but when it came time to use it to escape an enemy the advisors instead tried to cast "Spade" (and, not realising their mistake, also tried to offer it as a password). If they had been let off for their blunder before, this time there was none of that and the dungeoneer was quickly killed.

* UnwantedRescue: Sir Hugh de Wittless is under an enchantment compelling him to rescue people whether they want it or not.

** In one episode of the third season, Mellisandre falls into a trapdoor in the middle of giving advice, leaving the questers with the information that when they encounter a wall monster it's vitally important to... aargh?

** When a team accidentally destroyed the clue room, they received help from Folly the Fool. Folly managed to use an "Emperor's New Clothes" trick on a guard, and when the dungeoneer had to face Olaf the Viking alone, he used the exact same trick, turning an instant-loss scenario into a fighting chance. [[spoiler:They eventually won.]]

* InfantImmortality: Averted, and as noted in "TakenForGranite" not even the advisors were safe! However, also played straight in the fact that they were always stated as being alive in "our time".

** To dispel a spell, characters had to recite the correct letters in the wrong order; for example, "S-W-O-R-D" could be dispelled by reciting "D-R-O-W-S" or "O-D-W-R-S" or any of a large number of other possibilities. Teams still managed to get it wrong. One famous team had "S-H-R-O-U-D" cast upon their player by Mogdred. This was big. No-one had ever faced Mogdred before. To cancel it, they tried "D-U-R-H-S". They then tried "D-U-R-H-S" again, to the same effect. Mogdred dispelled it silently, then recast it, spelling it out -- and Treguard began to moan "Oooooo... Ooooo..." After another attempt, with "Stalactite", Treguard moaned "Let... ter... Oooo..." Finally, they came up with "Dispel! O-S-R-D-H-U." Mogdred fled in terror of the incredibly-bad spelling.
** The guy who got his friend killed trying to cast "Spade", when the spell they were given was named "Shovel". As Treguard said to the offending team, "How would you like it if someone got your name wrong?"

** And the girls who gave the ring to Sylvester. They were supposed to use it.

** One team didn't have a gold bar they needed to bribe someone blocking their path, and instead offered him a goblin horn and claimed that it was magical, with the power to create riches beyond anyone's wildest dreams. Unfortunately, the person they were trying it on happened to be Skarkill, Lord Fear's hired Goblin Master, and not only did he not fall for the ploy, he actually turned it right back on them by tricking the dungeoneer into blowing the horn, summoning some goblins to take him prisoner.

* OutrunTheFireball: When watching Lord Fear through the spy glass, a defence of a slow moving fireball would appear and fill the screen. The Dungeoneer would have to drop the spy glass before it hit him.

* GenderBender: In one Series 7 episode, Lord Fear turns his henchlizard into a tavern wench and then [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar comes onto him/her]]!

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: Oh yes. At least once a Wall monster said something that with a little squinting could be mistaken for something more pungent.
** In one episode, a female dungeoneer in her early teens slid down into the mine, knocking Bumptious the Dwarf over and causing an explosion to be accused by Gretel of "playing with his plunger". Even better/worse was when after running off for a cold compress she runs back screaming "I'm coming, Bumptious, I'm coming!"
** Then there were the magic pills marked "Upper" and "Downer".
** And of course, the wall monster called Granitas (say it out loud). [[spoiler:Granite Arse.]]
--->'''Granitas''': "MY NAME IS NOT AMUSING!"
** Pickle, after a dungeoneer took a hunting horn from a table: "Dickon's got the horn, master."
** The pub was called The Crazed Heifer, or [[spoiler:Mad Cow.]]
** [[SplitPersonality One personality]] of the dragon Bal-Sheba somehow got away with calling the other a "smart-arse".
** In a Series 3 episode, one of the advisors drops an f-bomb quietly (yet still able to be heard) and covers his mouth with his hand, looking guilty. This was never detected and later broadcast.
** At one point the habitually rude elf Elita loses her voice. When Hordriss suggests that the dungeoneer may be able to cure her, she performs an elaborate mime, at which he comments: "Oh, come, come, that's most uncharitable. [[AssShove And physically quite improbable.]]"

* FrickinLaserBeams: Velda's crossbow.

->--Treguard, ''[[OnceAnEpisode all the freaking time]].''

** Another one for him, when ushering off a losing team: "Spellcasting. D-I-S-M-I-S-S."

Spawned a number of [[ChooseYourOwnAdventure gamebooks]] and [[TheBoardGame a board game]].

* ExpandedUniverse: The books were half-novel, half-[[ChooseYourOwnAdventure Gamebook]], and dealt with how Treguard became the master of the castle. They're an awful lot better than they had any right to be.

* CreepyCrossdresser: Arguably, Mrs Grimwold (played by Tom Karol).

** Mogdred was the nearest thing to a main villain in Series 1--4. While he certainly had the highest profile of the villains, he generally didn't have many goals other than tricking the dungeoneers into messing up, and maybe outright killing them if the mood so took him. On top of that, he didn't appear in Series 1 at all (though was mentioned a few times), was largely OutOfFocus in Series 3 with Morghanna acting more as the primary villain, and then he formed one half of a BigBadDuumvirate with Malice in Series 4.
** Lord Fear in Series 5--8 was a much more straightforward example of this trope, as the undisputed leader of the Opposition and having the express goal to destroy Castle Knightmare from Series 6 onwards.

** There were lots of teams that died similarly (or, in one case, in ''exactly the same way''); for example, the one where they walked up the [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Fire Exit]] and got incinerated.

** In the early series, at least two teams ended up in a room with no viable exits, their only option being to wait for their life force to run out.

* SteamPunk: The Mechanical Warrior in the early seasons. In the later seasons, there were the "Descenders", voice-activated lifts/elevators by any other name. And Lord Fear occasionally referred to "Technomagic" which he presumably used to create the Dreadnought.

** In total, 69 teams took on the dungeon, of whom 55 failed, 8 won and 6 had their quests cut short by the end of a series. Discounting the quests cut short, that's a success rate of just over one in seven. NintendoHard indeed.

--->'''Scarkill''': "Lovely."

* ExpandedUniverse: The books were half-novel, half-GameBook, and dealt with how Treguard became the master of the castle. They're an awful lot better than they had any right to be.

Spawned a number of {{gamebook}}s and [[TheBoardGame a board game]].

* CelebrityEdition: The four questers are Youtube personalities [[WebVideo/AmazingPhil amazingphil]], [[WebVideo/StuartAshen ashens]], [[WebVideo/DanIsNotOnFire danisnotonfire]], and [[WebVideo/EmmaBlackery emmablackery]].

* {{Revival}}: A direct-to-YouTube [[http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2013-07/25/knightmare-resurrected-for-geek-week one-off show]] with four of the original cast.