Line #21 Literature/HeirApparent


1	%%
2	%%Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1651343255053371500
3	%%Please don't change or remove without starting a new thread.
4	%%
5	[[quoteright:313:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/heir_apparent.jpg]]
6	%%
7
8	''Heir Apparent'' is a 2002 [[YoungAdultLiterature young adult fiction]] novel by Creator/VivianVandeVelde. Seventh-grader Giannine Bellisario receives a gift certificate to Rasmussem Gaming Center, an arcade that specializes in virtual reality, from her estranged father. Upon her arrival, she chooses the game ''Heir Apparent'', where she is the [[HeroicBastard illegitimate child]] to King Cynric, the ruler of the kingdom of Shelby. Unfortunately, an anti-fantasy Christian organization breaks into the gaming center and [[HolodeckMalfunction severely damages the gaming equipment, trapping Giannine inside]]. The only way Giannine can get out is to [[WinToExit win the game]] before 'overload' occurs.
9
10	It has two companion books set in the same universe, ''Literature/DeadlyPink'' and ''Literature/UserUnfriendly''.
11
12	Not related to the fourth ''Literature/GuardiansOfTheFlame'' book ''The Heir Apparant'', or the ScienceFiction ShortStory "Heir Apparent" by Creator/CLMoore.
13	----
14	!!Provides Examples Of:
15
16	* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture: Computer-operated buses, genetically engineered mini-dragons, full-immersion virtual reality games...
17	* ActionSurvivor: Giannine.
18	* ActuallyIAmHim:
19	** Janine goes to the home of Xenos' father and sees a little boy. She asks to see Xenos Sr. only for the boy to reply "That's me" and get angry when she initially doesn't believe him.
20	** Giannine freaks out when she wakes up and sees [[spoiler: Kenric holding her]], and has to be reassured that [[spoiler: it's Nigel Rasmussem.]] He lampshades the fact that [[spoiler: he used an image of his uncle to warn her about what happened.]]
21	* AntiFrustrationFeatures: [[spoiler:How Giannine finishes the game. It's programmed so if the player/players start crying or showing signs of hating the game, at least one game character will go OutOfCharacter and tell the player what they need to do to win the game. Though in her case, she was crying ''and'' feverish because the VR machine was overheating. Kenric notices and helps her remove the last obstacle ([[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen the Queen]]) to the game's ending.]]
22	* ArtificialIntelligence: Especially from the perspective of when the book was first published (2002), the [=NPCs=] display a highly sophisticated ability to interact with human players in a natural-seeming way. They engage in naturalistic conversation, pick up subtle cues in body language, adapt to unexpected narrative shifts from the players' choices, and show apparent understanding of new concepts as they arise.
23	* AuthorAvatar: [[InUniverse Within the book]], [[spoiler:Kenric]] is based on the head of the Rasmussen corporation.
24	* ABirthdayNotABreak: Inverted; Giannine was just going to the VR place for the fun of it, but she ends up literally having to fight for her life when the mob that attacks the arcade sabotage her machine. She lampshades it.
25	* TheChainsOfCommanding: Giannine finds this out the hard way as Janine, trying to spare a peasant boy who was caught stealing and trespassing and her choices affect the game run. On top of that, she has to feed an army, [[spoiler:placate an enemy tribe head]], and survive her murderous (fictional) family.
26	* ChurchOfSaintGenericus: Giannine quickly discovers that Sister Mary Ursula, despite her name and appearance, isn't identifiably a Roman Catholic nun, as she speaks only about "Oneness" rather than God or Christ. When Giannine asks her about it, she briefly goes OutOfCharacter and issues what sounds like a disclaimer that the company wants to avoid offending anyone by being too specific as to the Sister's exact denomination.
27	* CulturePolice: The mob that attacks the arcade.
28	* CyberneticsEatYourSoul: Being hooked up to VR for too long can fry your brain. Normally there are fail-safes to prevent this and users aren't allowed to play anywhere near the length of time it would take to cause this, but the protesters smashed them up.
29	* DeathByChildbirth: The player character's mother in the game.
30	* DisappearedDad: Giannine's father never shows up for her birthday; the story starts because he sent her a certificate for a VR experience. He seems to avert this, however, in the end, as when he heard she was in danger he came as soon as he could.
31	* DoppelgangerReplacementLoveInterest: Giannine develops [[PerverseSexualLust a bit of a crush]] on the NPC Kenric. For obvious reasons, they can't exactly be together once she's escaped the game. Luckily, he [[AuthorAvatar looks just like]] [[spoiler:the game's TeenGenius creator, who shows up to apologize to the heroine personally and seems flattered that she liked the character based on him...]]
32	* DracoInLeatherPants: In-universe example with Kenric, who, despite his appearance and attitude, ends up being the most helpful brother to Giannine. The company owner even says that picking him is almost always a bad choice.
33	* DragonHoard: The protagonist needs to sneak into a dragon's lair to steal its treasure.
34	* DudeWheresMyRespect: Giannine, as Janine of St. Jehan, just can't seem to get on anybody's good side, no matter how hard she tries.
35	* DumbMuscle: Abas, the second oldest of the queen's sons.
36	* EverythingIsTryingToKillYou: Including your family in the game.
37	* FailsafeFailure: What traps her in the game. In the designer's defense, the failsafes only failed due to an angry mob of [[KnightTemplar overzealous]] {{moral guardian}}s smashing the device to hell and back while Giannine was using the VR machine.
38	* GoldenPath: The best way to win the game is to [[spoiler: give the ring to Ursula, meet and befriend Grimbold at his camp, and get Xenos' father to take on the dragon. While Janine doesn't do these in her final run, she still [[EarnYourHappyEnding makes it to coronation]] as a near-UniversallyBelovedLeader and had Kenric be the good guy for once]].
39	* GroundhogDayLoop: Justified, because Janine has to start over every time she dies from the same time and point.
40	* HotWitch: Orielle who specializes in {{magic potion}}s and is a HeadTurningBeauty that attracts men's attentions and women's envy.
41	* {{Hypocrite}}: The Citizens To Protect Our Children kick off the main plot by breaking into the Rasmussen center and smashing up the equipment, while a child is hooked into it. Great job protecting, guys.
42	* HolodeckMalfunction: Done by outside forces, causing the game to malfunction and slowly begin to cook Giannine's brain.
43	* KnightTemplar: The angry Christian mob that destroyed the device. Subverted in that later on, a real-life character says the group destroyed any chance of their being taken seriously once they nearly killed the young Giannine by incidentally destroying the failsafes in their rampage of destruction.
44	* MaybeEverAfter: Giannine [[spoiler:and Nigel Rasmussem]] after she wakes up, as the story ends just after their first meeting.
45	* MeaningfulName:
46	** Wulfgar -- "wulf" means "wolf" in Old English [[spoiler:and he can transform into a WolfMan]]
47	** The most muscular of the princes is named '''Ab'''as.
48	* MoralGuardians: That turn into KnightTemplar {{Hypocrite}}s when they break into the gaming center and smash up the equipment, endangering Giannine's life. Sister Mary Ursula also has very strong anti-magic views, despite almost nothing bad ever coming of them.
49	* MrFanservice: Part of the reason Giannine chooses to play ''Heir Apparent'' is because she found the male characters on the game's display attractive, particularly Kenric.
50	* NauseaFuel: In-universe, the strength potion that Janine takes while climbing Mount Hag. Its flavor is described as licking toothpaste out of the (undoubtedly hairy) armpit of a sweaty construction worker.
51	* NintendoHard: Janine has one hell of a time trying to get through Day ''1'' of the game. [[spoiler:Partly because most people would probably wait to say goodbye to their father, but Janine had issues with her real-life dad, so...]]
52	* NoEnding: As soon as the player is crowned king of Shelby, the world "dissolves into a shower of glitter" and the player wakes up - after ''three days of perceived time minimum'' that the player had to put into it.
53	* NobleBigot: Sir Deming doesn't hide his contempt for the lower classes but he's an HonestAdvisor and shows proper respect when Janine proves herself worthy of the throne.
54	* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: Giannine's father never shows up for special events, but Giannine knows something is up when [[spoiler: he comes after hearing that she nearly died playing a VR game]].
55	* PresentAbsence: Nigel Rasmussen is the founder of the company to the game Giannine is trapped in, and he briefly communicates with her in the game early on, but he does not show up in the flesh until the very end.
56	* PunishedForSympathy: Giannine's refusal to order the execution of a peasant boy caught stealing (aided by her modern Western view on the matter compared with the [[DeliberateValuesDissonance medieval setting of the game]]) has devastating consequences for herself.
57	* RealitySubtext: In-universe example; the reason it takes Janine forever to figure out that she has to [[spoiler:wait to say goodbye to her father to get a very important and useful item]] is because Giannine is estranged from her father and wouldn't think to do that in real life as a result.
58	* ReallyRoyaltyReveal: The virtual reality game "Heir Apparent" starts with the player character learning that their birth parents were a servant woman and the now deceased King Cynric, who has named the player the heir to the throne.
59	* RedHerring: [[spoiler:The two clues that Nigel Rasmussem gives to Giannine--don't forget the ring, and Kenric doesn't work well with Sister Mary Ursula--turn out to be basically irrelevant. In the final iteration of the game, Giannine makes no use of Ursula, and she doesn't use the ring at all until the very end when it's already clear she's won. Indeed, Ursula and the ring end up as somewhat of a distraction for Giannine in her attempts to win the game, and she probably would have won sooner if she'd totally ignored those elements. Nevertheless, she later learns that the commonest method for winning the game involves giving the ring to Ursula, something Giannine never even considered.]]
60	* RichBitch: The royal family, but Queen Andreanna is the most notorious for this trope.
61	* RippleEffectProofMemory: Janine [[OffWithHerHead unfortunately learns]] that St. Bruce remembers every poem the player gives in each playthrough, so they always have to make up a new one in every run.
62	* RoyalBastard: In the VR game the main character is playing, she's the illegitimate daughter of a king by a servant woman, ''and'' his designated heir to the throne.
63	* SaveScumming: Sort of; Giannine uses knowledge from previous playthroughs to make her decisions.
64	* SheIsTheKing: Andreanna, the former king's wife, is referred to as "Queen", but Janine aims to become the ''king'' rather than the queen. Implied to be because the game was [[MenAreGenericWomenAreSpecial designed with a male player in mind]], and the designers didn’t bother to adapt it for other genders.
65	* ShipTease: Janine and Kenric during the game, [[spoiler: Giannine and Nigel in real life given he's holding her as she wakes up]].
66	* {{Spinoff}}: The protagonist, Giannine Bellisario, was a secondary character in ''Literature/UserUnfriendly''.
67	* SplitPersonality: Sort of. Giannine becomes Janine, complete with FakeMemories designed by the gaming center.
68	* StandaloneEpisode: There are no direct references to the events of the first novel, even though it features one of the same characters, and it isn't even clear whether it takes place earlier or later. Vande Velde has said the books from this trilogy can be read in any order.
69	* SureLetsGoWithThat: Whenever the player uses anachronistic terms, none of the characters will question it, such as understanding that "TabletopGame/{{Poker}}" is a some gambling game.
70	* TakeThat: The ''entire book'' is a giant TakeThat at MoralGuardians who think fantasy is going to corrupt our innocent children.
71	* TeenGenius: [[spoiler: Nigel]] isn't that much older than Giannine, and he's the head of his own corporation.
72	* ThinkOfTheChildren: The aforementioned parent-groups rallying cry. [[{{Hypocrite}} Yeah....]]
73	* UnfortunateName: ''Nigel'' Rasmussem. He even says that it's his motivation for starting the company to make a name for himself.
74	* WarriorPoet: What was Saint Bruce, again?
75	* WinToExit: Thanks to those failsafes being broken, along with a lot of other equipment in the arcade, Giannine can't manually close the game and people can't shut the equipment down to get her out. She has to clear the game in order for it to shut down.
76	* WolfMan: [[spoiler:Wulfgar in wolf form.]]
77	* YearOutsideHourInside: 3 days in the game, 1 hour in the real world
78	* YetAnotherStupidDeath: The game is ''full'' of these, some of it possibly due to the player, but other deaths are just mean.
79	* YourPrincessIsInAnotherCastle: Abas, whose dialogue almost completely consists of him bragging about his various martial achievements and would seem the obvious choice to fight the dragon... doesn't "do" dragons and refuses to even try, forcing Janine to find a way to take it on herself.
80

Context Literature / HeirApparent