Line #25 Literature/TheSecretOfPlatform13


1	[[quoteright:258:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/0141302860_8318.jpg]]
2	''The Secret of Platform 13'' is a children's book by Creator/EvaIbbotson. Inside the abandoned Platform 13 in King's Cross Railway Station lies the Gump, an ancient and magical secret passage. Every nine years it opens to take those who wish to leave the world behind for the mythical island known as...The Island. The Queen gives birth to a son the year the Gump opens again and after the Prince's three nannies are overcome with homesickness, she allows them to take the Prince with them for a brief visit to our world.
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4	What they don't count on is running into [[RichBitch Mrs. Trottle]], who desperately wants to have a baby...even if it means turning to kidnapping.
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6	Nine years later, a young hag named Odge learns about the rescue mission being planned by the King to bring home his son, who has been raised by Mrs. Trottle as her son, Raymond. After much convincing she joins the appointed rescuers--Cornelius the wizard, Gerkintrude the fey and Hans the (temporarily invisible) giant--in their journey to London. Their task will not be as easy as they thought however, as Raymond is not only constantly protected, but is also an extreme RoyalBrat. Though they find immeasurable help from Ben, the grandson of Raymond's former nanny, and the many magical creatures in hiding, will it be enough to bring the Prince back to the Island before time runs out?
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9	!!Trope examples:
10	* AdaptationalHeroism: The Nuckelavee, who seems to be benign or at least fairly harmless [[spoiler:(and is driven away when Raymond insults it)]]. In the original folklore that the creature appears in, [[TheFairFolk it]] [[OmnicidalManiac is]] [[EldritchAbomination much]] [[PlagueMaster more]] [[NightmareFuel nightmarish]].
11	* AmbiguouslyHuman: Many of the Island's unusual creatures, which is why they can move or travel around London without being noticed. The rescuers were specifically chosen with this in mind.
12	* AwfulWeddedLife: Although they don't often fight because Mr. Trottle is always at work, the Trottles clearly dislike each other, and it's made clear, in a PG kind of way, that they haven't touched each other in years.
13	* BadIsGoodAndGoodIsBad: All of the Island's inhabitants are good, but species like hags seem to act this way. The fact that Odge ''isn't'' ugly and terrifying is seen as kind of embarrassing.
14	* BargainWithHeaven: With less than an hour for her kidnapped son to return before [[CoolGate the gump]] will close for nine more years, the Queen promises God that she'll never do anything bad again if he returns. The narration notes that she'd [[TheHighQueen never done anything bad before]] anyway.
15	* CallAPegasusAHippogriff: Ogres are one-eyed giants that tend sheep. A description more fitting a Cyclops.
16	* DeathBedConfession: In the hospital, Nanny Brown writes Ben a note to be read after her death. [[spoiler:It reveals that he was kidnapped as a baby, cluing Odge to the fact that he's the real Prince]].
17	* DotingParent: Mrs. Trottle. She's many things, but she pulls out all the stops to make Raymond happy, even if that's exactly how he became such a brat.
18	* EnfantTerrible: Narration from Nanny Brown's POV reveals Larina Trottel to have been one (namely, deliberately tipping over a fish bowl and [[KidsAreCruel gleefully watching her goldfish suffocate]]). Are we really surprised that she hasn't grown out of it?
19	* EverybodyCallsHimBarkeep: The King and Queen are never given any other names, and the Prince doesn't seem to have had a name until his kidnappers gave him one.
20	* EvilIsPetty: The main reason Mrs. Trottle makes Ben's life so miserable? She hates that he outshines her precious child in any way.
21	* ExactWords: Odge has been instructed not to ill-wish Raymond and as angry as she is with him, she complies. So how does he end up with a knickerbocker glory literally cartwheeling itself all over him? She ill-wished the dessert.
22	* FamilyFriendlyStripper: The complicated plan involves Gurkintrude replacing a dancing girl, in order to distract the people. The usual dance number is a striptease where the light is switched off exactly when the last veil could fall. The very prim and proper fey consents to the plan, but insists on wearing her very long, very decent underwear under the seven veils, just in case there's a problem with the light switch. Hilarity ensues.
23	* FatBastard: Both Raymond and his mother are examples of this.
24	* FloralThemeNaming: The three nurses, who are sisters, are called Lily, Rose and Violet.
25	* FoodPorn: The meal that, unfortunately, [[VillainousGlutton Raymond Trottle]] is eating when the travelers follow him around town. Given the most attention is the knickerbocker glory.
26	* FreakyIsCool: A recurring theme. Many of the magical creatures would come off as CreepyGood, including Hans (who spends most of the story looking like a disembodied eyeball) and the OneSceneWonder {{Nuckelavee}}. The sympathetic characters, including Ben, take this in stride, while characters like Raymond react badly.
27	* GentleGiant: Hans.
28	* GoodIsNotNice:
29	** The harpies, hags and other monsters on the Island, who serve as something like a police force--if you do something wrong, ''they'' deal with you, and chances are you'll never repeat your mistake.
30	** The narration notes that Nanny Brown is not a particularly nice woman, but still a FriendToAllChildren.
31	* TheGoodKing: What the monarchs of the island has traditionally been. The rescuers immediately think Ben must be the Prince because he's so hardworking and polite, and he must obviously understand that a king is the servant of his subjects. They're terribly disappointed when they realize they've got the wrong boy. [[spoiler:Good thing their first instinct was right.]]
32	* GranolaGirl: Gurkintrude. Being a fey, she has an even stronger connection to nature.
33	* HarpingOnAboutHarpies: The harpies, led by Mrs. Smith, give the impression of stern, female politicians, and while not technically evil, [[GoodIsNotNice are certainly not nice]]. They carry handbags, which contain cosmetics that smell like a slaughterhouse.
34	* HaveIMentionedIAmADwarfToday: Melisande is a water nymph, not a mermaid. She keeps pointing to her feet to prove it. Nobody ever mistakes her for a mermaid, and it's {{Lampshaded}} that nobody knows why this would bother her so much.
35	* {{Humanshifting}}: A minor character, a [[AllTrollsAreDifferent troll]] named Henry Pendergrast, has this ability.
36	* InvasionOfTheBabySnatchers: Inverted -- instead of supernatural creatures stealing away a human baby, a human steals away a baby from a land of supernatural creatures.
37	* JumpingOutOfACake: The hotel Mrs. Trottle and Raymond hide at has a dinner act where a girl leaps out of a fake cake and does a dance of the seven veils for the patrons. [[spoiler:When the rescuers try to get closer without alerting Mrs. Trottle, one of the things they do is pay off the dancing girl and have Gertrude take her place.]]
38	* LawOfInverseFertility: Mrs. Trottle cannot get pregnant, so she eventually decides to adopt a child--and, when she realizes there's a waiting list, resorts to stealing one. [[spoiler:She finds out she's pregnant shortly afterward and makes Nanny Brown raise the kidnapped child instead]].
39	* LimitedDestinationTime: The gump is only open for nine days every nine years. Hence why the Islanders had to wait before rescuing the Prince, and why they have a limited time to do it.
40	* MagicalSeventhSon: Odge is the seventh daughter of a seventh daughter. Her mother expected her to be an especially terrifying child; to her disappointment, Odge wound out being the least hag-like of her children.
41	* MamaBear: A villainous example in Mrs. Trottle.
42	* ModestRoyalty:
43	** The royal king and queen of the Island. Their mansion is even open to any guests who want to stay a night or two.
44	** At the end, [[spoiler: Ben]] is this as well. [[spoiler: He sets up a guest room for Odge, so she can live in the mansion with him, fixing it up with bat-themed wallpaper and a door for the pet mistmaker she gave him.]]
45	* MyBiologicalClockIsTicking: The main reason why Mrs. Trottle kidnaps the Prince after adoption doesn't work out.
46	* MyGreatestFailure: Lily, Rose, and Violet never forgive themselves for losing the Prince, and spend the nine years between the gump openings living in a cave punishing themselves by making sure they're always as miserable as possible.
47	* MyMasterRightOrWrong: Subverted with the former nanny, who ''really'' doesn't want to help Mrs. Trottle kidnap a baby. She ends up going along with it not out of loyalty, but because Mrs. Trottle threatens to frame ''her'' for the kidnapping if she doesn't comply.
48	* NeverMessWithGranny: One of Raymond's bodyguards is a little old woman who spends most of her time knitting. With very long, sharp needles, and she knows exactly what points on the body they'd be most effective. Her going rate is ''twice'' that of her hulking brother.
49	* NiceGuy: Ben.
50	* NiceToTheWaiter: One key difference between the royalty on the Island and the Trottles.
51	* RaisedByGrandparents: Ben was raised by his grandmother, Nanny Brown. [[spoiler:{{Subverted}} because she's not his real grandmother]].
52	* RidiculouslyCuteCritter: The mistmakers! They look like extremely fluffy baby seals, and love music and being cuddled.
53	* RichBitch: Mrs. Trottle.
54	* RoyalBrat / SpoiledBrat: Raymond Trottle, the whole deal: tantrums, the room of broken toys, disrespect to anyone who isn't his mother, and there's nothing anyone can do about it since his parents are incredibly rich.
55	* RunningGag: One character is always referred to as "the troll called Henry Prendergast".
56	* SameSexTriplets: Lily, Rose, and Violet are identical triplet sisters. Part of the reason they were hired as the Prince's nannies is because of this trope, as they would give the young prince the security of one constant helper but could provide three times the work.
57	* ScareEmStraight: Mrs. Trottle to Raymond [[spoiler:after the magical show the Islanders put for him, and he starts wanting to go to the Island.]]
58	* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: When [[spoiler:the harpies are sent in to take Raymond]], one of the guards doesn't even bother shooting and runs away screaming.
59	* SelfPunishmentOverFailure: [[SameSexTriplets Lily, Rose and Violet]] defy orders by taking the infant Prince through the gump; he winds up getting kidnapped, and he can't be recovered until the gump opens again in nine years. The King and Queen are too nice to punish the nurses, so they move into a cove and punish themselves by eating nothing but rotting food, sleeping on hard rocks and constantly dipping their body parts in freezing water. When the rescue party finally goes to retrieve the Prince they wait right by the gump with a big box of bananas, desperately waiting for when their punishment can end.
60	* StrangeSecretEntrance: The eponymous Platform 13.
61	* [[ThemeTwinNaming Theme Triplet Naming]]: Lily, Rose, and Violet.
62	* TheyHaveTheScent: Not said word for word, though. [[spoiler:How the Islanders find Mrs. Trottle--through the powerful smell of her custom-made perfume, Maneater, in the sewers.]]
63	* UncattyResemblance: Raymond looks so much like Mrs. Trottle that the rescuers are taken aback, attributing it to something like this trope. [[spoiler:It's actually a sign that he's her biological son]].
64	* VillainousGlutton: While out at lunch with his mother Raymond orders fried prawns, soup, roast beef, Yorkshire pudding, fries, and an ice-cream sundae. Other times when he is out he is usually seen downing more.
65	* WouldHurtAChild: Mrs Trottle has no qualms over making Ben's life as miserable as possible.

Context Literature / TheSecretOfPlatform13