Happily
Ever After by ShearViscosity is a three-part fanfiction series from the Hollow Kingdom Trilogy.
The series started with Ever, which focuses on shy American Alice, who has come to England with her friend, Candace, and her cousin, Nick. Candace catches the attention of both the elf King, Nir, and the goblin King, Marak, both of whom are looking for brides. Marak agrees to allow Nir to have her in exchange for an elf bride. Nir agrees as long as he can find an elf who is willing. Inanna volunteers in order to get away from her controlling sister, Eresha. When Nir goes to kidnap Candace, the girl becomes suspicious and convinces Alice to pretend to be her. Nir falls for it and performs the magical marriage ceremony on the spot only to discover that he has the wrong bride too late. Nir is initially miserable with the turn of events, particularly when he finds out Marak and Inanna are already getting along well. He lets Alice go. While she's leaving Eresha tries to convince her to commit suicide so Nir can marry again. Alice is tempted since Eresha explains it is what is best for the elves, but in the end she decides to go back to Nir and give marriage with him a try.
The sequel is After which picks up four months later when Alice's sister, Alex, decides to investigate her sister's disappearance. With the help of her friend, Finn, and his inventions, Alex goes to England and searches for clues. In the process, she attacks and then gets kidnapped by goblins. Marak decides to force her to marry a goblin, but agrees to let it be a man of her choice. Using Finn's inventions, Alex maintains contact with her friend while learning about the goblin world. She becomes close with Kayto, a descendant of Seylin. During that time, Eresha, who has also come to the goblin kingdom in order to be near Inanna, studies goblin culture and history, in the process figuring out a way to seek revenge on her sister for abandoning her. When Inanna becomes pregnant, Eresha attempts to kill her sister and frames Alex for it. Alex is then imprisoned and unable to contact Finn. He becomes worried about her and comes to England with Candace, who he has grown closer to. They're able to contact Aggie, Marak's mother, and Kayto, and convince them that Alex is innocent. Eresha reveals her evil plot to Alex, not knowing Kayto is there to hear the whole thing. But she has a bigger plot she was also working on, which was to destroy the boarder on the lake that hangs above the goblin caves. Her plan almost works and the lake almost floods the kingdom, but Finn stops it with powers he has suddenly discovered. It is revealed that he is part elf, which has been hinted at through his good looks, ability to enhance devices to work despite magical defenses, and his interest in trees. Alex and Finn end up marrying after a Love Epiphany and the epilogue shows their children married to goblins.
Happily is a prequel to Ever and After focusing on how Aggie met her husband, Marak Owlfeathers. The author promised to add more oneshot prequels later, one focusing on Nir's mother and father.
Happily Ever After Series provides examples of:
- Abduction Is Love: Nir and Alice
- Accidental Marriage: While attempting to steal Candace, Nir ends up stealing and marrying her frumpy friend, Alice.
- Alpha Bitch: Candace
- Anti-Climax: Ever builds up to absolutely nothing.
- Beta Couple: Marak and Inanna are the beta couple in Ever to Nir and Alice's Official Couple. Kayto and Candace are the beta couple in After to Finn and Alex's official couple.
- Better to Die than Be Killed: Eresha commits suicide at the end of After when the goblins have her imprisoned after catching her during her scheme to kill Inanna and destroy the kingdom. She commits suicide rather than face whatever revenge they have in store for her.
- Betty and Veronica: Alice and Candace
- Bride and Switch: Nir thinks he's marrying Candace and only realizes his new wife is Alice when it's too late.
- Deadpan Snarker: Candace and Alex
- Decoy Protagonist: Candace initially appears to be the main character since both Nir and Marak are trying to marry her. But in a twist few reviewers saw coming, Nir ends up marrying Alice instead and she takes the reigns of the story.
- Don't Split Us Up: Eresha does not want to be split up from her little sister, Inanna. Not when they're children. Not even when they're adults. She even goes so far as to agree to marry a goblin in order to be near her sister. Unfortunately, Inanna wants distance between her and Eresha.
- Elsewhere Fic: All three stories take place well after the events of the main series and only mention canon characters.
- Exact Words: Kayto uses this with Alex during their first meeting.
- Fallen Princess: Candace. After seeing what she thinks is the ghost of Alice, Candace goes home terrified and ends her social life. She becomes reclusive and befriends
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Fandom-Specific Plot: Modern stories of girls getting kidnapped and forced to marry goblins or elves is pretty exclusive to the Hollow Kingdom Trilogy fandom. - Gadgeteer Genius: Finn. He provides Alex with special gadgets he has upgraded himself to work even despite magical blocks against such devices.
- Grew a Spine: Both Alice and Inanna grow enough to stand up to Eresha.
- Happily Ever After: Whole point of the series.
- Hippie Parents: Aggie
- Hot Guy, Ugly Wife: Nir and Alice
- In with the In Crowd: Alice is suddenly welcomed into Candace's clique when Candace wants to use her to get closer to her cousin, Nick.
- Lovable Alpha Bitch: Candace.
- Love Epiphany: Alex and Finn
- Musical Theme Naming: All of the chapters are named after songs from Disney films.
- Nerds Are Sexy: Alex and Finn
- Original Character: All of them.
- Pair the Smart Ones: Finn and Alex
- Pair the Spares: Kayto and Candace
- Plain Jane: Alice
- Promotion to Parent: Eresha starts raising Inanna after her mother dies and her father starts neglecting them.
- Romantic Runner-Up: Kayto with Alex. The reader is lead to believe she will choose him to be her goblin husband and other characters push for it. But in the end, she gets with her friend, who she suddenly develops feelings for.
- Runaway Groom: Aggie's fiance dumps her at the altar during the wedding rehearsal.
- Shrinking Violet: Alice
- Sibling Yin-Yang: Alice and Alex, and Eresha and Inanna
- The Unfavorite: Candace's parents prefer her sisters to her.
- Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: Marak and Inanna
- Why Waste a Wedding?: Aggie's sister and former fiance decide to use her wedding as their own in Happily.
- Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Eresha. She's trying to destroy the protagonists, but she has the most sympathetic back story of any character in the fic.
