Line #136 ComicBook/TheBooksOfMagic


1	[[quoteright:262:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/books_of_magic_vol_2_25_8101.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:262:"[[KidHero Boy]]! [[CallToAdventure Do you believe in magic?]]"]]
3
4	''The Books of Magic'' is a comic book series set in the DC Universe's Vertigo imprint, created by Creator/NeilGaiman. It was originally conceived as a "tour" of DC's magical universe, showing off important supervillain and superhero figures, the magical realms, laying down the basic rules of magic, and showing the history of the universe and magic in it from start to finish. The concept was introduced in a 4 issue mini-series written by Gaiman, lasting from January to April, 1991.
5
6	The books begin with four famous magicians from DC's history meeting Timothy Hunter, a poor adolescent British boy with messy, dark hair and coke-bottle glasses, who is destined to be the supreme avatar of magic of the age, on par with Merlin in the Dark Ages. They show him everything they know about magic, and at first he refuses the call but then accepts.
7
8	After the four-part series, Tim got a continuation of the title written by John Ney Rieber, focusing much more upon himself and the forces dealing with him rather than the DC Universe (this was around the same time the Vertigo line was distancing itself from stuff in the DCU). Unlike, say, Literature/HarryPotter, Tim does ''not'' immediately start taking magic lessons; instead, he wanders around, wondering what to do with his life now that it has irrevocably become more bizarre, and dealing with all sorts of hard situations.
9
10	Everyone and everything he meets wants to use Tim for their own purposes or kill him (except, obviously, Death herself), including demons, fairies, and angels. Tim's friends and family are targeted by supernatural forces beyond imagining in attempts to get Tim to agree to a MagicallyBindingContract to own his soul and power. And everything gets really, really weird.
11
12	The ongoing series lasted for 75 issues (May, 1994 - August, 2000), and had three annuals and a two-issue crossover miniseries with ''ComicBook/{{Hellblazer}}''. It was followed up with a five-part mini-series by Dylan Horrocks called ''Names of Magic'' (February - June, 2001), in which Tim is admitted to "The White School", in the vicinity of [[ComicBook/AmethystPrincessOfGemworld Gemworld]], to study magic in earnest. This served as a transition to another ongoing series written by Horrocks named ''Hunter -- The Age of Magic,'' which dealt with Tim's last days at the White School, and his life post-graduation. This series lasted for 25 issues (September, 2001 - September, 2003).
13
14	There have also been a few spin-off mini-series under the collective title ''The Books of Faerie'', which focus on supporting characters like Titania, Auberon and Molly.
15
16	A fifteen-issue DarkerAndEdgier AlternateContinuity series by Si Spencer called ''The Books Of {{Magick}}: Life During Wartime'' (July, 2004 - December, 2005) depicted an alternate Tim Hunter -- as well as alternate versions of Molly, [[ComicBook/{{Hellblazer}} John Constantine]] and ComicBook/{{Zatanna}}) -- caught in a war between the Born (the Faeries) and the Bred (the humans).
17
18	Another version of Tim showed up in the main DCU during the ComicBook/{{New 52}} in a ''ComicBook/JusticeLeagueDark'' storyline.
19
20	In 2018, a new series by Kat Howard started up, as part of the Gaiman-curated ''Sandman Universe'' imprint. This series is somewhat of a {{Soft\|Reboot}} Continuity Reboot; events from the original series (particularly the miniseries) are referenced, but this new series starts again with (yet another) twelve year old Tim who is still in school and still trying to figure out how this entire "magician" thing is supposed to work.
21	----
22	!!The original ''The Books of Magic'' series and spin-offs provide examples of the following tropes:
23
24	* ActionGirl: Iolanthe, the half-Faerie, is very much one of these. Molly, while less of a warrior, is one as well, and in ''Life During Wartime'' we get another one in Jaqueline "Jackie" Constantine, a teenage DistaffCounterpart to John Constantine.
25	* AdamAndEvePlot: [[spoiler:With Cat and Dog in the final issue of ''Life During Wartime'', when Tim takes them back to the pre-historic world, to give the world he just destroyed a new chance to start over.]]
26	-->[[spoiler:'''Tim:''' Think of this as paradise, and you're Adam and Eve. Multiply and be fruitful.\
27	'''Cat:''' Did he say something?\
28	'''Tim:''' Oh, one last thing... Don't touch the apples on these trees.\
29	'''Cat:''' Why not?\
30	'''Dog:''' Is it some kind of sin?\
31	'''Tim:''' 'Course not.... they just taste of fish for some reason. Don't ask me why.]]
32	* AdaptationalVillainy: When he first appeared in ''Secrets of Haunted House'', Mister E was a very [[NiceGuy nice]] monster-slayer who always treated his employees kindly. His ability to [[DisabilitySuperpower "see" good and evil]] was a basis for writing him as a [[BlackAndWhiteInsanity mad]], [[TheFundamentalist fundamentalist]] KnightTemplar in the first ''Books of Magic'' miniseries.
33	* AdaptationDyeJob: Or Alternate Universe Dye Job, anyway; in the world of ''Life During Wartime'' Tim has black hair instead of the dark brown he ended up with in the regular continuity, Molly is a redhead and Zatanna is blonde. Constantine is the only one who looks more or less exactly like his regular-continuity counterpart.
34	* AlternateUniverse: The concepts of alternate universes and alternate versions of people is brought up several times, most notably with Tim's "Other." Of course, ''Life During Wartime'' takes place in an alternate universe -- several of them, in fact.
35	* AntiMagic: In ''Life During Wartime'', in order to hide from the Faerie Queene, Tim created a world completely without magic -- ''any'' kind of magic. Which means, among other things, that there's no such things as dreams and nobody knows what religion is.
36	* AwesomenessIsAForce: When Timothy Hunter and ComicBook/{{Zatanna}} got themselves surrounded by the Cult of Cold Flame, John came to the rescue. All he did was give a wisecrack, and the cult and others pissed their pants and fled from his presence. Zatanna was confused on how he did it, John says it's his "reputation".
37	* BadFuture: Mister E takes Timothy to see one in which he has become a nigh-invincible evil [[TheArchmage archmage]] slaughtering most of the world's greatest practitioners of magic in an epic battle that will cause magic to be largely forgotten for centuries.
38	* BatmanGambit: Eventually becomes one of Tim's trademarks. Usually they work, too -- most notably he pulls off an ''impressive'' one with Barbatos in the very last issue of the original ongoing series.
39	* BigBrotherMentor: [[ComicBook/{{Hellblazer}} John Constantine]] to Tim.
40	* BookEnds: One of the last scenes in the last issue of ''Hunter -- The Age of Magic'' is a callback to the very first issue of the ''Books of Magic'' mini-series, with Tim riding a skateboard and being interrupted by someone asking him if he believes in magic. [[spoiler:It's gently parodied, as this time around Tim is so startled he falls off the skateboard and begins cursing out the person who startled him -- only to see a smirking John Constantine who says: "Sorry, mate -- I just couldn't resist it. Fancy a pint?"]]
41	* UsefulNotes/BritishAccents: Provides the trope page quote.
42	* BrotherSisterIncest: Cat and Dog have feelings for one another, and their relationship has a definite sexual tone, though they resist taking the step to make it physical. [[spoiler:After they discover they're not actually siblings, however...]]
43	* TheBusCameBack
44	** Yoyo the owl, who has not been seen since the first ''Books of Magic'' mini-series, returns as Tim's spirit guide in ''Names of Magic.'' In ''Hunter -- The Age of Magic'' he's become a prominent supporting character; now infused with the spirit of Merlin, so that Merlin, through the owl, can oversee Tim's magical development.
45	** Also, other people from Tim's past make returns in ''Hunter -- the Age of Magic'', most notably Molly.
46	* TheCaptain: John Constantine in ''Life During Wartime''.
47	* CatsAreSnarkers: When Tim takes the shape of a cat, his created body has a mind of its own and provides an [[InnerMonologue inner dialogue]], basically making spiteful comments and insisting to forget everything and just go chase pigeons.
48	** Averted with Filthy, Molly's mangy tomcat; he's an affectionate and loyal cat. Granted, he ''is'' a cat and has the instincts of one -- he briefly tries chasing Molly in ''Books of Faerie'' after she's shrunk down to the size of a flitling, but when he realizes it's her he goes back to being the affectionate pet who follows her around... on bat wings. (They both drank from a magic pool.)
49	* ChangelingFantasy: Tim is apparently the illegitimate son of Queen Titania and her human falconer [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tam_Lin Tamlin]], raised by mortal parents. At least at first. Then Auberon says that Tim has no faerie blood and it seems he's the illegitimate son of Tamlin and Mary Hunter, and the changeling son of Titania and Tamlin is his half-brother whose fate is unknown. But it's never completely certain. A third possibility raised is that Mary Hunter was a faerie nursemaid under a glamour who smuggled Tim out of Faerie at Titania's request to hide the fact that Her Majesty was a human sorceress under a glamour and the baby, having been fathered by Tamlin, was fully human. So the only thing really certain is that Tamlin is Tim's biological father and William Hunter isn't.
50	* ChangelingTale: [[spoiler:Titania's story is a variant; she was a human girl who was lured away to Faerie and later became the Queen as a result of several {{Batman Gambit}}s. Not even Auberon knows that she's not a born faerie.]]
51	* ChekhovsGun: The three treasures Tim, Yo-Yo and Rose get from Snout's den end up playing a role in their travel through Faerie, in proper fairytale fashion. Rose uses her mirror as an answer to a riddle posed by a giant, Yo-yo's chain is used to bind Baba Yaga's house's legs to let Tim escape, and Tim gives his Mundane Egg to Titania in exchange for a silver key, to avoid paying with his life.
52	* TheChessmaster: The Amadan, though he's not as ahead of everyone else as he ''thinks'' he is. [[spoiler: He's thoroughly tricked and outmaneuvered by Yarrow, whom he has regarded as meek and harmless all this time.]]
53	* ChivalrousPervert: In ''Hunter -- The Age of Magic'', Tim certainly has this reputation around the White School; he's described as having a soft spot for {{Distressed Damsel}}s.
54	* TheChosenOne: Tim has the potential to become the most powerful magician of the modern age, a fact that results in an awful lot of people and creatures wanting to control or kill him.
55	* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: The ongoing series goes through a ''lot'' of supporting characters, and none of them last the entire series. Many are KilledOffForReal or PutOnABus, but some just... vanish without any real explanation as Tim moves on to something new.
56	* TheComicallySerious. Yo-yo, in ''Hunter -- The Age of Magic''.
57	* CompellingVoice: A variant with Bongsquall the troll; nobody can say "no" to him, no matter what he asks of them -- but the flipside is that ''he'' can't say "no" to anyone else either. He gets around this through LoopholeAbuse and ExactWords. Also Mr. Lily, though Tim eventually learns to resist it.
58	* ContinuityPorn: The original miniseries. If a character hails from Franchise/TheDCU (circa 1991) and does ''any'' amount of magic, they ''will'' at the very least get a cameo.
59	* CosmicEgg: This is how worlds are born. Tim restores the dying realm of Faerie by finding a world egg to hatch a new Faerie.
60	* CowardlyLion: Yarrow the Flitling is timid and meek, and knows it... but when push comes to shove she'll rise to the occasion, surprising even herself with her courage and wit.
61	* CrapsackWorld: Both the main worlds depicted in ''Life During Wartime''. One is a war-torn hellhole where AnyoneCanDie, the other is a place where dreams don't exist, and people go crazy when introduced to the concept of gods or magic.
62	* CursedWithAwesome: Molly grows a garden (a "real garden", as in, "tomato orchard", not "pleasure garden") while in Faerie, and Titania gets miffed about this for no good reason, so she puts an enchantment on the garden. When Molly eats one of the fruits, she gets cursed and is constantly on fire without burning. Molly is pissed, of course, but she puts the curse to good use by burning everything that stands in her way on her march to the Titania's palace.
63	* DarkerAndEdgier: ''Life During Wartime''. While the original series is by no means light and fluffy, this is definitely darker and more violent.
64	* DeadpanSnarker: One of Tim's most enduring traits. There is no situation so dire, or weird, that he can't make a few choice sarcasms about it.
65	* DeathOfAChild: Any child or infant that shows up in ''Life During Wartime'' ''will'' die a gruesome death.
66	* DeityOfHumanOrigin: Queen Titania was originally a human peasant girl during the Middle Ages. She is such a powerful sorceress that to all practical intents and purposes she is a PhysicalGod and appears to be TheAgeless. Titania easily outmatches most mythological gods in the modern age, as she does not depend on worship for power. The supernatural community in general simply regards her as the godlike Queen of Faerie.
67	* DistaffCounterpart: Jackie Constantine is the Hunter's World's teenage girl answer to John Constantine. She has much the same attitude, but not the power or experience.
68	* DoesNotKnowHisOwnStrength: Tim is the magical equivalent of this, especially early on. He has a lot of power but is terrible at controlling it, which means he either fails at what he's trying, or puts too much power into it. Occasionally he lucks out and the results are positive... more often they just lead to more trouble.
69	* DontFearTheReaper: Tim meets Death from ''Sandman'' several times; the first is at the end of all time (when the only thing ''left'' is Death), the second is when he's in the AfterlifeAntechamber because his body is dying from manticore poison. He bumps into her a few other times throughout the series.
70	* DoomMagnet: With some notable exceptions, such as Molly and Nick, pretty much every supporting character that doesn't have their own series or place in the DCU or Vertigo universe eventually ends up dead after meeting Tim.
71	* EldritchAbomination: Half of the entities Tim deals with on a regular basis.
72	* TheEveryman: Tim is sort of introduced as this in the original miniseries, being mainly a normal young boy who is taken on a grand tour of the magical parts of the DC universe. The ongoing series slowly has him grow out of this trope as he becomes both more powerful, more savvy and more strongly characterized. By the time of ''Names of Magic'' he's abandoned the trope entirely.
73	* EveryoneIsSatanInHell: InUniverse, this is Mr. E's schtick. When he takes Tim on a trip to the end of time, they meet a Tarot-style Fool who gives them a riddle;
74	-->I sat with my love,\
75	And I drank with my love,\
76	And my love she gave me light.\
77	I'll give any man a pint o' wine\
78	That'll read my riddle right.\
79	Only I don't ''have'' a pint of wine.
80	** An innocent would say he loves the moonlight. Someone more worldly would say he just plain loves wine, has a candleholder made out of a wine bottle, and can't give anyone any wine because he drank it all. Mr. E, who sees evil ''everywhere'', gives an ExactWords InsaneTrollLogic response;
81	--->I sat in a chair made of my love's ''bones'', drank from her ''skull'', and saw by the light of a candle made from her ''fat.''
82	* EvilChancellor: [[spoiler:The Amadan]] is one in ''Auberon's Tale'', casting new light on his appearances and many of his actions in ''Books of Magic''.
83	* EvilMatriarch: Titania, Queen of Faerie and [[spoiler: Tim's real mother.]] [[spoiler: Subverted because Tim is fully human, but confirmed because Titania is human as well.]]
84	* TheFairFolk: Dealing with them is a major chapter of the original four-part story, and a major part of the series proper once it began.
85	** Most of the protagonists of ''Books of Faerie'' count as this, as one might well expect. Molly is the main exception, as she's human, but under a very powerful Faerie curse. [[spoiler:Then again, at the end of ''Molly's Story,'' she is claimed by the magical gemstone Twilight as the new "Protector of the Summerland" and while she goes back to seeming like a normal human, she displays definite Fae-like powers at the end.]]
86	* FertileBlood: The world of the fairies is slowly becoming a desert thanks to the destructive, life-consuming effects of a manticore, but the protagonist manages to kill it with the help from a unicorn, and he stumbles away, with life blooming where his blood falls.
87	* FishOutOfWater: Happens to several people when they cross over into other worlds, but it's clearest with Iolanthe, who doesn't know much about how mortals operate when she decides to stay on Earth.
88	* FriendlyEnemy: Tala, the Queen of Evil (from ''ComicBook/ThePhantomStranger'') is portrayed as this to ComicBook/{{Zatanna}}.
89	* FutureMeScaresMe: An evil future-version of Tim, apparently some sort of sorcerous overlord who likes making clones of Molly, pops up when his "servant" Barbatos points out that the past is in flux and there may not actually be a reality that leads to creating him, thus he tries to ensure that Tim will make the decisions that lead to being him. (Apparently one of the deals he made for power was erasing his own memory of the past, so he's literally got a MultipleChoicePast). Changes to the timeline result in "Sir Timothy" becoming a homeless bum in the future, then a dragon in Hell, then AlasPoorVillain. Tim avoids this path by royally pulling one over on Barbatos.
90	** Though this could also be interpreted as "Sir Timothy" always being a homeless bum, and Barbatos' plots are intended to make the possible future they are in a definite future.
91	* GenderBender
92	** Doctor Occult turns ''into'' Rose Psychic while in Faerie (previous versions had her as his assistant, not literally his other half).
93	** Tim himself, in the later parts of the ongoing series, spends several issues in the form of a girl, thanks to an amulet that once belonged to his mother. Unlike many examples of the trope, he doesn't even find it remotely freaky to suddenly be of the opposite sex, just viewing it as a handy way to disguise his real identity (but then, this is hardly the first time he's [[VoluntaryShapeshifting changed shape,]] or [[ForcedTransformation had his shape changed for him]], and most of the changes were [[WeirdnessMagnet decidedly freakier]] -- at least this time he is still human, walks on two legs and can wear normal clothes). Since he looks like a younger version of his mother, he adopts the name "Mary". Tim even responds positively to Charles Rowland (of the Dead Boy Detectives) flirting with him as "Mary" in a ''Winter's Edge'' story.
94	* GirlNextDoor: Molly appears as one to begin with.
95	* {{Glamour}}: A lot of Faeries use magic to hide their physical appearances.
96	* GodSaveUsFromTheQueen: Titania is Queen of the Fair Lands and rather malevolent.
97	* GroinAttack: In issue 11 of the 1994 series, Molly kicks Daniel in the nuts.
98	* HappilyAdopted: Tim, after he finds out that he's not William Hunter's biological son, and may not even have been the son of Mary Hunter, mopes a bit about it, but in the end decides that William and Mary raised him and took care of him, and never once called him a "changeling." William, upon confronted with Tim's parentage, admits that Mary was already pregnant when he married her, and he never knew whether Tim was biologically his or not -- but he never thought it mattered one way or the other.
99	* IJustWantToBeNormal: After being cursed by Titania, and a long time of being a WeirdnessMagnet, Molly goes through periods of this. In ''Age of Magic'', she has (largely thanks to being put on medication by her patrents) managed to convince herself that she ''is'' normal and that none of the supernatural things she experienced were real, though she eventually admits that they were.
100	* IKnowYourTrueName: To be accepted into the White School, you have to present your true name. [[spoiler:Tim's true name turns out to be "Merlin".]]
101	* IncorruptiblePurePureness
102	** In an odd variation, Tim is ''easily'' corrupted by outside forces, but something about his soul is "purely human" in a vaguely defined way.
103	** Every character in the setting has a SpiritAnimal or inner beast that reveals things about them through AnimalStereotypes. Tim's Spirit Animal is [[HumansAreSpecial a human]]. [[HumansAreSpecial Which is]] [[HumansAreCthulhu as freaky]] [[HumansAreBastards as it]] [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters sounds]].
104	* IncredibleShrinkingMan: Happens to Molly, as a result of falling into a magic pool.
105	* LanguageOfMagic: Played with and becomes much more important in the later series than in ''The Books of Magic''. According to Tim, magic is a language in and of itself.
106	* LaserGuidedAmnesia: In ''Life During Wartime'', Tim has imposed this on himself in his created world. It doesn't last.
107	* LawyerFriendlyCameo: In the third issue of the original 1990 miniseries, a scene where Tim is taken to a Faerie market shows [[ComicStrip/RupertBear a small, white-furred bear in a red shirt and yellow checkered pants]] viewed from the back.
108	* LighterAndSofter: While it does have some decidedly dark undertones and its fair share of gruesome scenes, ''Books of Magic'' is on the whole one of the gentler, more lighthearted Vertigo titles of its time. This is especially noticeable when you compare it to the two comic series it was most closely related to, ''Comicbook/TheSandman1989'' and ''ComicBook/{{Hellblazer}}''.
109	** ''Life During Wartime'', however, reverts this -- see the DarkerAndEdgier entry above.
110	* LineOfSightAlias: Tim introduces himself to the Manticore as "Jack Bone", while standing in a yard littered with bones.
111	* MagicallyBindingContract: The focal point of nearly every other plot point, particularly in Faerie.
112	* {{Magick}}: ''Books of Magick: Life During Wartime''. The alternate spelling of the word "magic" was brought about by the fact that the original ''Books of Magic'' series was being adapted as a series of YoungAdult novels, and DC wanted to distance this book, with much more adult content, from that series.
113	* MasterOfIllusion: In Faerie, you can count the number of characters who ''aren't'' this on one hand.
114	* MerlinAndNimue: Provides the page quote from Tim's brief meeting with Merlin.
115	* MissingMom: Mary Hunter died in a car accident a decade ago or so.
116	* TheMole: In ''Life During Wartime'', John Constantine suspects there is one. [[spoiler:He should know, because the mole is [[MoleInCharge Constantine himself,]] allying himself with the Faerie Queene against the humans. Except it ''then'' turns out he was playing the Fairie Queene all along and the entire thing was a BatmanGambit orchestrated by him and Tim Hunter.]]
117	* MoreTeethThanTheOsmondFamily: The Manticore. Even in his human form, he has what looks like another set of teeth painted across his face.
118	* NatureTinkling: In the 16th issue of the 1994 ongoing, Molly relieves herself behind some vines, complaining about how easier it is for boys to pee outside.
119	* NewAgeRetroHippie: Nick "Bearclaw" is introduced as one of these in ''Names of Magic''. Learning that magic is real doesn't really change him much.
120	* {{NOT}}: In issue 23 of the 1994 ongoing, Timothy Hunter's internal narration at one point remarks "Happy birthday to me...Not."
121	* ObviouslyEvil: Mister E is set up for this in his first appearance in the four-parter, what with his suggestion they murder Tim [[PragmaticVillainy out of pure pragmatism]], and his misogynistic comments further cement this (he was literally raised to believe that women are the source of all evil).
122	* OmniGlot: Tim eventually develops the ability to understand, speak and even read any language. He describes himself as [[Franchise/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy "a walking Babel fish"]].
123	* OriginsEpisode: ''The Books of Faerie'' is a prequel miniseries that entails the origins of Queen Titania in addition to explaining her marriage to Auberon and her affair with Tamlin that resulted in the conception and birth of Timothy Hunter.
124	* PalsWithJesus: Death seems rather fond of Tim. Plus there is his [=love/hate=] relationship with Queen Titania.
125	* ParentalNeglect: After the death of his wife, the grieving William Hunter spends a lot of time watching the TV or sitting zoned out in that very car instead of being aware of his son. He gets better... [[spoiler:And then he dies.]]
126	* PinballProtagonist: Tim has a tendency to flirt with this trope; for much of the comic he gets dragged along by the plot and by the actions of others rather than take any initiative of his own. He's extremely easily influenced and manipulated, and if left to his own devices he tends to not do anything at all. The only thing that stops him from fully embracing the trope is that he ''does'' occasionally step up and provide solutions to the problems (when the problems aren't solved by an outside force beyond his control, that is), and over the course of the series these moments get more frequent, especially as he starts developing a penchant for {{Batman Gambit}}s. By the time of ''Hunter: The Age of Magic'' he's pretty much abandoned the trope entirely.
127	* PokeInTheThirdEye: Volume I of the original series has a non-violent but effective version of this idea. When the Phantom Stranger takes Tim Hunter on a walk through history, they aren't, technically, time traveling -- just looking at the past. Nonetheless, Tim gets a chance to talk to some of the powerful magicians they see. As one Atlantean sorcerer says, sarcastically, "No. Of ''course'' I can't see you. ''Or'' hear you ''either,'' for that matter. But you ''ought'' to be here at this time, or so my spells have said."
128	* PrequelInTheLostAge: Both the first ''Books of Faerie'' mini-series and ''Auberon's Tale'' qualify as this, telling of the younger days of Titania and Auberon.
129	* PutOnABus: A ''lot'' of characters have large or semi-large roles in the comic for a while and then unceremoniously vanish. Some of them return, mostly for brief cameos, though in some cases like Yoyo and Molly, TheBusCameBack in sequel series. Only Tim is actually in the series from beginning to end and even he borders on being moved OutOfFocus for some parts of it.
130	* ReallyGetsAround: Tim, though not until ''Age of Magic'', when he's actually old enough.
131	* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Auberon, especially in comparison to the vindictive and impulsive Titania. If TheFairFolk have a reputation for screwing mortals over, he's the one who stands on the opposite side. "Old Glory," the fairy market-master in the four-parter, also stands as this; he keeps a dishonest fairy shopkeeper from framing Tim for theft and renders some immediate justice.
132	* SeekerArchetype: Tim
133	* TheSlowPath: [[InvertedTrope Inverted from the norm]], but still really slow. Mister E, who is able to fast-forward himself into the future to take a look at it, has a harder time going backwards. After traveling with Tim all the way to the end of time itself (just so he could murder Tim in private), he's stopped by Death and told he has to ''walk'' back to the past, one step at a time. Yeouch.
134	* SpiritAdvisor: Yoyo/Merlin to Tim.
135	* SpotlightStealingSquad: Molly has traces of this; for a while she almost looked like she was usurping Tim's status as main character, before she was PutOnABus.
136	* StopWorshippingMe: After the people of Tim's created world realizes he's their creator, they begin worshipping him like a god and doing terrible things in his name. He's not amused.
137	* StraightGay
138	** Nick. In fact, there's no hint that he's gay in his first appearance in ''Names of Magic'', where he's simply introduced as an eccentric but kindly NewAgeRetroHippie and his sexuality isn't mentioned at all. It's not until ''Age of Magic'' he's revealed as gay.
139	** Also, Jackie Constantine from ''Life During Wartime''. Which makes some amount of sense, as she's the DistaffCounterpart of John Constantine, whom we know is bisexual. Jackie never shows any attraction to men, though, and identifies as gay.
140	* SuccessionCrisis: Happens in ''Auberon's Tale'', which takes place long in the past. When the old king dies, the child Auberon is named his successor, but he's not the only one with a claim to the throne.
141	* TakeThat: The third annual featured a number of alternate realities that revolve around some version of Tim. One of them is a superheroic mash-up of the DC Universe with Vertigo. The Tim of this world is a Robin-esque character who served as the sidekick to John Constantine (in this world a Batman figure named "Hellblazer"), before changing his name and joining a Comicbook/TeenTitans analog called the Mystic Youth. The entire segment served as a pointed criticism of the dwindling quality of the ''New Teen Titans'', with Tim himself mentioning that the team was supposed to see years of brilliance becoming mediocrity with a slew of less-interesting members coming aboard. The clincher is that it was illustrated by famed Titans artist Phil Jimenez.
142	* ThereCanBeOnlyOne: Tim vs. his alternate selves.
143	* "ThisIsAWorkOfFiction. All the characters in it, human and otherwise, are imaginary, excepting only certain of the fairy folk, whom it might be unwise to offend by casting doubts on their existence. Or lack thereof."
144	* TookALevelInBadass:
145	** Tim has great magic powers from the start, but he's not very good at ''utilizing'' them and is downright ''horrible'' at taking initiative or acting on his own. So while never ''quite'' a PinballProtagonist, he spends much of the series getting dragged around by more forceful personalities, many of whom just see his incredible potential and either fear what he could grow up to become or want to make sure he grows up to become someone they can use properly. It takes him quite a long time to grow out of this, but he gradually becomes more active and independent, develops a knack for successful {{Batman Gambit}}s, and takes control of his life. By the end of the 75-issue series he's become a regular GuileHero, and through ''Names of Magic'' and ''Hunter: The Age of Magic'' he's become formidable in his own right -- this is when he stops being known for what he ''could'' become and instead is known for what he ''is.''
146	** Yarrow the flitling, who goes from LovableCoward to CowardlyLion.
147	* TrashOfTheTitans: Molly's room, according to Yarrow.
148	-->'''Yarrow:''' Can this truly be your bedchamber? Never have I seen so small a space so remarkably disarrayed!
149	* TrenchcoatBrigade: The original ''Books of Magic'' series is the TropeNamer, the term being used to refer to a group consisting of John Constantine and his fellow mages the Phantom Stranger, Dr. Occult and Mr. E.
150	* VictoryThroughIntimidation: Demonstrated by John Constantine on a room full of magical supervillains in the original miniseries. It's a bluff, but he ''is'' John Constantine.
151	* WalkingTheEarth: Much of the series is Tim traveling to different places.
152	* WeirdnessMagnet: Tim has a tendency to attract all sorts of bizarre trouble wherever he goes. Molly, to a lesser degree.
153	* WellIntentionedExtremist
154	** Dr. Lily, whose ultimate goal is "the restoration of Paradise," to go back to the perfect world the way it was before evil existed, and he is willing to stoop to ''any'' level to see this goal through.
155	** On a related note, Francis Fabien believes he has found the DNA that makes people evil, and so he sets out to spread a DNA-altering virus created with the help of an angel's feather, in order to turn humanity completely good. Needless to say, it doesn't work out like that.
156	* WhatHappenedToTheMouse
157	** What happened to human boy Tim was swapped for at birth? Given the history of faeries? The human boy was probably taken back to Faerie to be a plaything until Titania and/or Auberon got bored with him -- and God help him, after that.
158	** For the longest of times, there was no hint of what had become of Yoyo after the original miniseries. However, he returns in ''Names of Magic'', with no real explanation as to where he's been. Tim claims he just shows up from time to time.
159	%%* TheWisePrince: Prince Taik of Faerie
160	* WizardsWar: The last issue of the original mini briefly depicts a BadFuture where Tim went evil and sparked off a war involving pretty much every magic-user in the setting.
161	* WouldHitAGirl: Lampshaded by Edmund ("Ed") of Hebron and Molly in ''Life During Wartime'':
162	-->'''Ed:''' Don't think I won't kill you just because you're girls.\
163	'''Molly:''' Great -- we get the only non-sexist demon in this shithole.
164	* TheXOfY: The Books of Magic.
165
166
167	!!The ''Sandman Universe'' reboot contains examples of the following tropes:
168
169	* AdaptationalJerkass: Tim in the original version was a good kid whose main flaws was passiveness and a tendency to get too caught up in himself and his own problems to notice what other people were going through, but who also had a bit of a ChronicHeroSyndrome syndrome going on and would always go out of his way to help those in need. This version is much more an antisocial and temperamental JerkWithAHeartOfGold with a disturbingly ruthless and violent streak towards people he doesn't like, and various people's concerns that he'll grow up to be a terrible, dark wizard seem a lot more justified. That said, he's still ''basically'' good. He's far less passive and his first impulse is still to help rather than harm, and he does try his best to take care of people in need.
170	* AscendedExtra:
171	** Rose plays a larger role in this series, having taken on a sort of mentor role to Tim.
172	** In the original run, the Cold Flame cult were rather insignificant {{Starter Villain}}s who were largely defeated off-screen by the Trenchcoat Brigade, and while they were occasionally referenced in the ongoing and kicked off the occasional plot point, Tim barely interacted with them. Post-New 52, the Cold Flame is a lot more active and powerful, and a constant threatening presence in Tim's life.
173	* ArcSymbol: Books. Books in this series are always a symbol of power and ''nearly'' always a source of magic. Most of Tim's lessons come from books.
174	* BroadStrokes: How the series seem to link to the original Gaiman-penned miniseries. It definitely still ''happened'', as the events are briefly summarized in the first issue... and yet Tim does not recognize Rose when she shows up as his new school teacher, and Yo-Yo the owl is treated as if he was introduced for the first time here. This might have something to do with the reboots the DC Universe have gone through since the original miniseries, or there might be something else going on. Since the old ongoing series delved pretty hard into alternate timelines, it's possible we're just seeing another one of them.
175	* TheCameo: When Tim visits [[ComicBook/TheSandman1989 the Dreaming]] in issue #5, several familiar faces appear, including Eve and Matthew.
176	* {{Expy}}: Ellie is pretty much a toned-down, {{Race Lift}}ed version of Molly.
177	* GenkiGirl: Izzy seems to be a rather amoral version; she's cheerful and energetic, and tends to act on her impulses with little to no thought about whether it's right or wrong.
178	* HotBlooded: Tim has notably more of a temper here than in the original continuity. He's also far less patient and more prone to act without thinking.
179	* IntergenerationalFriendship: Between Tim and Mad Hettie.
180	* JediMindTrick: Tim uses magic on his father to make sure he doesn't worry when Tim goes off on a trip to find and rescue Ellie and his mother, and to make sure he doesn't freak out when odd magic stuff happens. It in fact works a little ''too'' well, as the father in later issues has become incapable of reacting to anything odd or unusual, and for a couple of issues he's totally blank and doesn't react to anything at all.
181	* {{Jerkass}}: Tyler, so far, doesn't seem to have many redeeming qualities. You could say he's like the [[Franchise/HarryPotter Draco Malfoy to Tim's Harry Potter]], even though Tyler himself is a {{Muggle}}.
182	* MagicWand: Tim makes one out of a screwdriver. May or may not be an intentional ShoutOut to a certain [[Franchise/DoctorWho Sonic Screwdriver]].
183	* MissingMom: A big driving motivation for Tim here is to find out exactly what happened to his mother.
184	* TheStoolPigeon: Tyler is of the "Petty Peter" variant. He ''really'' wants to see Tim get into hot water, to the point where seeing Tim do magic mainly provokes a "how can I use this to make sure Tim gets into trouble?" reaction.
185	* TheXOfY: Not completely played straight; this incarnation is simply known as "Books of Magic," instead of the original version's "''The'' Books of Magic."

Context ComicBook / TheBooksOfMagic