Line #45 YMMV/TheEdgeChronicles


1	* AccidentalAesop:
2	** It's better to take life as it comes and make the best of things, rather than getting obsessively focused on one project to the exclusion of all else.
3	** Are you the captain of a ship and bogged down with responsibilities? Don't have children, you'll be a crap parent.
4	* AccidentalInnuendo:
5	** The slaver that took Maugin was called Zelt ''Pink-Eye''.
6	** Sagbutt.
7	* {{Adorkable}}: Cowlquape Pentephraxis. Nate also comes off this way in his early interactions with [[UptownGirl Eudoxia]].
8	* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation:
9	** Does Linius neglect Maris because he feels involving her in his work would be too dangerous, or because she's a girl and he would rather have a boy working as his apprentice? The Edge in general seems to be pretty patriarchal (with the exception of the shryke and the termagant trogs) with women holding very few positions of influence. But Maris also mentions Quint is a few years older than her when she meets him. So it could be Linius would have been agreeable to Maris helping him if she weren't so ''young'' rather than because she's a girl. Then there's the third interpretation that he would never let her be involved because she's his child and that would be the same, boy or girl.
10	** Vox Verlix is an absolute fountain of alternate interpretations. Did he truly have no conception of the misery his massive architectural works would create? Was he motivated by his own pride and vanity, or a sincere desire to make the Edge a better place? Or did he start as an idealist, but gradually slide into darkness thanks to being betrayed by everyone he ever trusted, winding up with no motivation except killing everyone?
11	** Was Quint really unable to find the woodtroll village where he and Maris abandoned Twig? Given the woodtrolls' well-trodden network of paths, it seems like they shouldn't be that hard to find, even in the Deepwoods. It's possible that Quint never looked that hard -- instead, seeing both Maris and Twig as reminders of his dashed dreams and ruined life, he was always planning to skip town on the ''Stormchaser'' and never look back.
12	** We never see things from the Gloamglozer's perspective, but being an {{Expy}} of Frankenstein's monster, it's not hard to imagine that even the ultimate embodiment of evil has inner pain we don't see. Its determination to destroy the line of Linius Pallitax could be the rage of a child abandoned at birth by its own father.
13	* AntiClimaxBoss: The Gloamglozer is first defeated when Quint [[spoiler:[[ItMakesSenseInContext throws dirt in its eyes.]]]]
14	** The ''Bringer of Doom'', the largest and most terrifying leagueship ever built, [[spoiler:crashes out of the sky due to a severe design flaw without the protagonists having to do anything.]]
15	* ArcFatigue: Cade Quarter spends two entire books running around the Farrow Ridges before he gets around to looking for his uncle Nate.
16	* SugarWiki/AwesomeArt: Chris Riddell's gorgeous illustrations.
17	* CaptainObviousReveal: Slyvo Spleethe, the sneering, conniving quartermaster, is working against Cloud Wolf? Shock and horror! Quartermasters in general tend to be so ObviouslyEvil that it's more of a surprise when one ''isn't'' secretly planning mutiny.
18	** Slightly less obvious, but it's still not hard to see that the true identity of the Mire-Pirate is [[spoiler:Tem Barkwater.]]
19	* CompleteMonster
20	** ''The Curse of the Gloamglozer'', ''Beyond the Deepwoods'', ''The Immortals'': [[ForTheEvulz The Gloamglozer]] is the most devious and AncientEvil ever to plague the Edgeworld. The Gloamglozer is a sadistic, [[VoluntaryShapeshifting shapeshifting]] demon who, unable to truly harm prey itself, contents itself with [[ManipulativeBastard luring victims to their death]] while [[EmotionEater glutting itself on their fear]]. Upon being accidentally recreated by the brilliant professor Linius in the First Age of Flight, the Gloamglozer sadistically torments Linius by tricking him into thinking his daughter is dead, before burning Linius to death and going for his apprentice Quint next. The Gloamglozer spends the next Age of Flight luring hapless victims to the Edge itself where it throws them off--one of its victims being Quint's son Twig--and opens up the Second Age of Flight by creating the stone-sickness, an epidemic that destroyed the technology and economy on which the Edgeworld had been built, affecting and ruining millions. In the Third Age, before its final death, the Gloamglozer rediscovered the ruined floating city of Sanctaphrax and magically transformed it into an illusion of its former glory, using it to corral entire villages and clans of people from the Deepwoods so the Gloamglozer could prey upon them.
21	** ''The Rook Trilogy'' (''Last of the Sky Pirates'', ''Vox'', ''Freeglader'')
22	*** [[KnightTemplar Orbix Xaxis]] is the paranoid, fanatical Most High Guardian of the Night, leading his Guardians in exterminating the Librarians and securing ultimate power for themselves. Having betrayed his former boss Vox Verlix and massacring his loyalists, Xaxis decrees all Librarians worthy of death and goes about [[FinalSolution wiping out the entire group]], capturing and torturing any survivors possible before executing them. Xaxis's favored method of execution being to feed his victims alive to the monstrous rock demons while Xaxis [[LovesTheSoundOfScreaming savors their screams]], Xaxis plans to unleash all rock demons onto the Librarians to rip the faction apart. Willing to order even his "friend" Xanth be murdered for going against his will, Xaxis throws even the loyal Leddix to his death in a childish rage without a second thought, willing to torture, kill, and betray countless people to ensure his insane vision of the future comes about.
23	*** Hemuel Spume is the master of the [[NightmarishFactory Foundry Glade]], a hellish factory that spreads through the Deepwoods like cancer after the stone-sickness forces a radical change in the Edge's industry. Spume [[SlaveryIsASpecialKindOfEvil enslaves]] thousands to slowly work themselves to death in the Foundry Glade, including the pacifistic and harmless banderbears, driving them to death at such a rate Hemuel eventually calculates as 300 a month. In cooperation with the conniving ghostwaif Amberfuce, Hemuel eventually takes his war to the Free Glades with monstrous machines called "glade-eaters," intending to devastate the Free Glades and make slaves of whomever he doesn't destroy.
24	*** Amberfuce is a particularly cruel Ghostwaif known for his cruelty towards his slaves and his [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder lack of loyalty towards anyone]]. Allying with the evil Vox Verlix and helping in his schemes of mass murder, Amberfuce was known for taking countless slaves and [[MindRape erasing their minds]], warping them into perfect drones. Amberfuce was also responsible for the Week of Blood, where goblin slaves were rounded up, the old and infirm butchered, and the survivors forced to dig mass graves on the spot. Amberfuce later betrayed Vox for the evil Hemuel Spume to help the latter design Vox's own {{superweapon}}s, known as the Glade-Eaters, to create even more mass murder.
25	** ''The Immortals'': [[ItsAllAboutMe Custodian General Golderayce One-Eye]] is a slimy, selfish copperwaif who has assumed control over the Garden of Life and its healing waters, hoarding them all to himself with [[LackOfEmpathy no care]] for the countless innocents subject to disease and death without the waters' aid. Golderayce uses his control over the Garden to institute total power in the city of Riverrise, having his custodians assassinate and execute anyone who defies Golderayce and [[DeadGuyOnDisplay impale their bodies for the whole city to see]]. Years ago, Golderayce's jealous possessiveness spurred him to murder his object of affection, Maugin, and then imprison her lover and friend for centuries out of spite. When the heroic Nate tries to sample some of the Garden's water to save a friend, Golderayce responds by planning to [[FlayingAlive flay the man alive]], torture his friends to death, and [[SlashedThroat slash open the throats]] of two of his own servants who tried to offer Nate assistance.
26	%%* CultClassic
27	* EnsembleDarkhorse: With the general blandness of the protagonists (see VanillaProtagonist below), the more colorful supporting characters get a lot of fan attention. Special mention goes to [[WeCanRebuildHim Stope Boltjaw]], [[BigBrotherMentor Raffix Emelius]], [[SamusIsAGirl Maugin]], [[LadyOfAdventure Varis Lodd]], [[HeelFaceTurn Xanth Filatine]], and [[GeniusBruiser Ambris "The Professor" Hentadile]].
28	** And that's to say nothing of the villains, too many of whom are popular to list here.
29	* FanPreferredCouple:
30	** Rook ultimately ends up with [[spoiler: Magda]] and Xanth with [[spoiler: Rufus' unnamed mother]]. Most shippers seem to prefer Xanth with either Rook or Magda, though.
31	** To many fans, Maugin is the love of Twig's life, despite the fact that he spends several more decades with [[FirstGirlWins Sinew]].
32	* FashionVictimVillain: The Leaguesmen with their ridiculous giant hats. Vox's jester hat and giant, red robe that looks like a muumuu. Both are probably intentional.
33	* FriendlyFandoms: Often recommended in the same breath as [[Literature/{{Discworld}} Discworld]]. Both are original, fully realized fantasy settings with LoadsAndLoadsOfRaces that undergo gradual industrial revolutions over the course of the series.
34	* HarsherInHindsight:
35	** Only if you read the books in the order they were released in, but in ''Stormchaser'', Hubble [[spoiler:dies the moment he leaves the Twilight Woods]] and Stope Boltjaw [[spoiler:actually wanders off [[FateWorseThanDeath into the woods themselves]]]] and both characters are subsequently forgotten. In the later two books of the Quint Trilogy, both have their characters [[RoundedCharacter seriously fleshed out]]. Unfortunately, [[DoomedByCanon they're still both going to die]].
36	** Also applies to Screed Toe-Taker. Meeting him in The Winter Knights, as [[spoiler: the finest Knight Academic of his age, Screedius Tollinix]] reveal what exactly turned him into what he was in the Twig trilogy.
37	** The series practically runs on this in the end; The most glaring is the ending of Midnight over Sanctaphrax, where Twig sets off to Riverrise as captain of a new ship, while Cowlquap becomes most high academe of new Sanctaphrax. The very next book reveals the latter was betrayed by Vox and everything is worse than ever, and Twig lost his entire crew and ship without even making it back to Riverrise.
38	* HilariousInHindsight:
39	** One member of Twig's crew is a brogtroll who's very big and strong but quite slow witted. His name? [[Franchise/{{Transformers}} Grimlock]].
40	** Let's see: a young man aligned with the Big Bad's organization, and close with the Big Bad himself, is sent on a mission into the wider world, during which he begins to have a crisis of faith. On his return to the heart of evil, he converses with an imprisoned elder who continues to sway his conscience. Ultimately, thanks to his complex but deep friendships with a boy and girl on the side of good, he undergoes a complete HeelFaceTurn and spends the rest of his life making the world a better place. Did we just describe Xanth or [[WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender Zuko]]?
41	* HoYay:
42	** Twig and Cowlquape, ''Midnight over Sanctaphrax''. So very much.
43	--->'''Cowlquape:''' And I'd follow you anywhere, even... even out there, into Open Sky.
44	** Rook and Xanth.
45	** Also Sagbutt and Filbus Queep.
46	* IronWoobie: Most of the main characters, but especially Quint and Twig.
47	** Quint [[spoiler:loses his entire family in a fire, save his father, who later dies in front of him. On the cusp of achieving his dream of going stormchasing, he's turfed out of Sanctaphrax by Vilnix Pompolnius, and must work for a Leaguesman who forces him to abandon his infant child in the Deepwoods. The guilt and shame causes his marriage to disintegrate. When he finally reunites with his son and gets to live out his dream, he's betrayed and stranded alone in the Great Storm -- yet he ''still'' manages to survive long enough to give Twig the message that saves the Edge.]]
48	** Twig [[spoiler:grows up as an outcast, then goes through all manner of crap in the Deepwoods. He finds his long-lost father, only to be treated like crap because Cloud Wolf can't risk people knowing he has a son. Once he becomes a sky pirate captain, Twig loses his crew almost to the last man, then very soon loses ''another'' crew after that one. Having left friends at Riverrise, he spends much of his life trying to return to them, failing every time. During that time, he loses his beloved wife in childbirth, and wanders alone into the Deepwoods to live with Banderbears. His ultimate reward for all this? Finally making it to Riverrise too late, being imprisoned for 500 years by a jealous dictator...and ''after all that'', still kicking Gloamglozer ass in ''The Immortals''.]]
49	* JerkassWoobie:
50	** Vox Verlix is a horrible person but ends up living such a miserable life it's difficult not to feel at least a little bad for him. [[spoiler: Later he becomes a WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds.]]
51	** [[spoiler: Screedius Tollinix. A noble and chivalrous knight who was so broken by his failure to complete his sworn duty that he became the vile Screed Toe-Taker. Screed is unspeakably awful, but remembering what he once was is enough to get many fans choked up.]]
52	* JustHereForGodzilla: Even if you don't read a single word, it's worth picking up the books just for the illustrations.
53	* MagnificentBastard: Despite being a regular Fourthling with no supernatural powers or special abilities, Quove Lentis appears in more books and causes more misery than any baddie except the Gloamglozer itself.
54	* MoralEventHorizon: Crossed by plenty of villains. A few examples: the Gloamglozer [[spoiler:trying to kill Twig or successfully killing Linius]] depending on what order you read the books, Vilnix [[spoiler:trying to kill Quint and Maris or having Forficule's ears cut off out of nothing more than spite]], Hemuel Spume working his slaves to death in the foundries making [[spoiler:weapons to enslave the Free Glades], Orbix Xaxis [[spoiler:feeding Librarian children to the rock demons]], Golderayce [[spoiler:killing Maugin]], and Quove Lentis [[spoiler:ordering the death of Cade's parents.]]
55	* {{Narm}}: Occasionally Chris Riddell's illustrations can get a bit too stylized with his love of drawing extremely prominent foreheads and teeth that don't always line up. A few moments that should have been dramatic come off as funny because the character(s) pictured look so odd in this way.
56	* NauseaFuel: Many of Chris Riddell's illustrations. The man doesn't do {{Gory Discretion Shot}}s, apparently. One particularly bad one is [[spoiler: after Screed kills Spiker and leaves him dead in the Mire with his toes cut off. Just something about the bloody trail smeared from the stumps on Spiker's mutilated foot...]]
57	* ParanoiaFuel: The waifs, an entire species of mind-readers living amongst the rest of the population of the Edge. Except it doesn't stop there as some of them are also capable of [[MindRape invading a person's mind and giving them what amounts to a lobotomy.]] ''Shiver''.
58	* PeripheryDemographic: Enjoyed by a lot of adults who are attracted to its dark storylines, rich world building and extreme creativity.
59	* ReplacementScrappy: When ''Weird New Worlds'' was declared non-canon to make way for the Cade trilogy, many fans weren't happy that Hedgethorne Lammergyre and Forden Drew got replaced with yet another bland VanillaProtagonist from the Verginix-Quarter dynasty. At least Lammergyre is still part of the story, though slightly altered.
60	* {{Squick}}:
61	** Plenty. Special mention goes to how a rotsucker catches its prey. What exactly ''is'' that liquid...?
62	** Then there's [[spoiler: Maugin falling in love with Twig. Which is fine... until you remember that Maugin's body will never mature beyond the appearance of a pubescent girl, while Twig grows normally.]]
63	* ShockingMoments: Throughout ''The Immortals'', mysterious guides are seen leading Deepwoods folk to a legendary paradise called "The City of Shining Spires." Late in the book, Nate and friends reach the city, and a fettle-legger exclaims that it's appeared. The next thing we see is [[spoiler:[[CallBack the map of Sanctaphrax from ''The Curse of the Gloamglozer'']], showing that the floating city has returned for the first time in 500 years.]]
64	* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: Replacing the original very detailed covers with the much simpler ones which just show a bust of one of the main characters.
65	* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter:
66	** Keris Verginix gets a single short story about her adventures, while her grandfather, father, and son get three books each.
67	** Most of the crew of the ''Edgedancer'', especially Wingnut Sleet, who gets enough foreshadowing to practically constitute an AbortedArc.
68	** The Winter Knights. Notably, while [[spoiler:Tem Barkwater eventually emerges from the Twilight Woods, nobody seems to much care what happened to Stope.]]
69	* TooBleakStoppedCaring: Due to CrapsackWorld and AnyoneCanDie being in full effect.
70	** On the other hand, it's not hard to see the Edge as AWorldHalfFull. Every Age of Flight has one or more groups fighting tooth and nail for kindness and decency. Though there have been plenty of setbacks, by the end of ''The Descenders'', the Edge is clearly a much better place for its average goblins and trolls.
71	* TooCoolToLive:
72	** [[spoiler: Varis Lodd. Most of Twig's crews.]]
73	** [[spoiler: Maugin. [[DroppedABridgeOnHim Much to the]] [[YankTheDogsChain displeasure of the fanbase.]]]]
74	* TooDumbToLive: That's right, Rook, just go on and stand [[spoiler:over an Armageddon machine that's started up with a drop of water ''while you're dripping with sweat''. What could possibly go wrong?]]
75	* TrappedByMountainLions: Each protagonist, as a rule, has one book that consists largely of unrelated adventures which only tie into the broader story at the climax.
76	** Twig: ''Beyond the Deepwoods'' is mostly about various creatures trying to eat him, with only [[spoiler:the sky pirates and the Gloamglozer]] as loose connective threads.
77	** Quint: Much of ''Clash of the Sky Galleons'' follows the daily tribulations of sky pirate life, with the Turbot Smeal plot only sporadically coming up.
78	** Rook: ''The Last of the Sky Pirates'' doesn't really get going until [[spoiler:Twig appears]] 2/3 of the way through.
79	** Cade goes through ''two'' books of this, with ''The Nameless One'' and ''Doombringer'' largely following his quest to build a life for himself in the Farrow Ridges.
80	* UglyCute: Many of the peoples of the Edge, especially gnokgoblins and some waifs.
81	* VanillaProtagonist:
82	** Rook, who's basically just a nice, bright kid thrown in at the deep end.
83	** In fact, all the main protagonists share the trait of being much more interesting as supporting characters than heroes. Quint, Twig, Rook, and Nate are all generic do-gooders who respectively become a badass grizzled sky pirate, a wandering wildman who talks to Banderbears, a battle-hardened cavalry officer, and a famous research scientist who charts the land beyond the Edge. Presumably, if we get a sixth saga, we'll see the same thing happen to Cade.
84	** Thaw mentions the fourthlings are kind of this for the whole Edge; having no especially prominent traits or characteristics like the other sentient species do, but taking centre stage in many positions of power and influence nonetheless.
85
86	* WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids: The series is written for young adults, but loves to push the limits in terms of blood and gore. Made so much worse because a lot of the NightmareFuel moments are lovingly illustrated by the extremely talented Chris Riddell. The only thing that keeps it in the children's realm is the absence of nudity, swearing, and sex, though all the main characters are confirmed to have gotten laid at least once[[note]]With the curious exception of Nate, the only one whose married life we actually see on the page.[[/note]].
87	* TheWoobie:
88	** Xanth Filatine, especially during his ReformedButRejected phase.
89	** Twig too. And Rook. Honestly, this series throws so much crap at its characters that it would be easier to list those that don't get at least one moment of woobiedom.
90	** Maris. Her mother's dead when we first meet her, her father is [[spoiler: killed by the Gloamglozer]] when she's a child, she has to abandon her son, Twig, after birth and never sees him again, and her husband vanishes. She spends her life wandering through the woods, never speaking a word after her husband's disappearance, until in her old age she meets her granddaughter, Keris.

Context YMMV / TheEdgeChronicles