Literature / Fairy Oak

"For over one thousand years, at the stroke of midnight, in the houses of Fairy Oak something magical happens:tiny glittering fairies tell stories about children to excited witches with kind eyes, who drink in every single word. Curious, isn’t it? Everyone knows that fairies and witches don’t get along and that witches don’t like children one little bit. But we are in Greenvale, in the village of Fairy Oak. And here things have always gone a little differently…"

Fairy Oak is series of seven Middle Grade Literature books written by Elisabetta Gnone (one of the co-creators of W.I.T.C.H.) from 2005 to 2010.

The series tells the story of Lavender and Vanilla Periwinkle, twin witches growing up in the town of Fairy Oak, as told by their babysitter fairy, Ifjoyfulyoushallbeyoushallwishtotellitme (Telli, for short).

The books are divided in two: The Trilogy and The 4 Mysteries.

The Trilogy

• "The Twin's Secret": The fairy Telli is called to Fairy Oak by Lilac Tomelilla, a renowed Witch of the Light, to watch over her soon-to-be-born nieces until the day they turn 15 years old. As the twin's 10th birthday comes closer, everyone is excited to see if they inherit their aunt's magical abilities, but what they don't realize is that that year also marks the 21st anniversary of the last attack of a terrible Enemy...
• "The Dark Enchantment": The Enemy decides to create a rift between the twins to debilitate Fairy Oak's defenses against Him.
• "The Power of Light": Winter has come to Fairy Oak and, amidst distrust and weariness, brings hope again to the villagers.

The 4 Mysteries

• "Love and Captain Grisam": Telli has come back to her home, the Kingdom of the Silvery Dews, and decide's she'll tell more about Fairy Oak to her friends. The story of the first mystery, love, starts when the Captain's Band decides to open the old man's sea-chest.
• "Shirley's Enchanting Days": The unraveling of the second mystery, magic, starts when Shirley Poppy finds a strange cook book in her aunt's sewing room.
• "Flox Smiles in Autumn": The village of Fairy Oak sees all its inhabitants go slighly mad during the season of fallen leaves, and the color-loving Flox will unveil the mystery of friendship when trying to understand the cause of this strange phenomenon.
• "Farewell to Fairy Oak": Although saying goodbye saddens her, Telli doesn't want her memories of Fairy Oak to turn dull, so she spends the last of the four nights telling small stories of the dear town, trying her best to convey the magical feeling of its everyday life.

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Fairy Oak contains examples of:

• A Birthday, Not a Break:
  • Tomelilla's birthday party is an example of this.
  • When Titch turns nine he learns the truth about the Captain's past, has to deal with Adelaide Spleenworth and almost drowns and is electrocuted while trying to save Nibbler.
• Adoring the Pests:
  • Vanilla doesn't want Pampuria to hunt mice.
  • Acanti regularly gave food to a pregnant mouse that lived in his attic. She gives him a chesnut as a reward.
  • Francis befriends the mama mouse that inhabits the Museum.
  • Tomelilla leaves a pile of dried leaves in the Periwinkle house backyard so some shrews can have a home.
• Affectionate Nickname: La and Baboo for the twins.
• Afraid of Doctors: Duff Burdock, the biggest and most powerful dark wizard of Fairy Oak.
• Aerith and Bob: Characters called Martha, Shirley and Horace share a world with Grisam, Flox and Acanti.
• Age-Gap Romance:
  • Vanilla and Jim. Six years may not seem like much, until you remember their ages.
  • Dahlia is ten years younger than Cicero.
• All Love Is Unrequited:
  • Vanilla and Grisam.
  • Tommy and Vanilla.
• All Witches Have Cats:
  • The Perwinkles adopt Pampuria, the Captain's cat, after he passes away.
  • The Poppys have a cat named Scratch.
  • The Blossoms have Apple Spottail.
  • The Coclery have Meatball Pips.
• Animal Espionage: Tomelilla mentions it's quite probable that the emisaries of the Enemy transform themselves into animals to do this, cue a class on animal behaviour and characteristics that Magicals can't imitate. The taste of cow milk is one of them, apparently.
• Animal Lover: Basically everyone, but specially Shirley and Joe Shuanma.
• Animal Motifs: When the Captain's Band transforms into birds, each member has a code name based in their transformation, which reflects their personality. Their personality and likes also get reflected in the animals they prefer interacting with.
  • Vanilla turns into a robin and speaks to porcupines, turtles, ladybugs and other forest animals.
  • Lavender talks to foxes, spiders and scorpions.
  • Grisam transforms into a grey hawk and talks to crows (because he’s the only one that’s patient enough for that).
  • Flox transforms into a woodpecker and speaks to pheasants and partridges.
  • Shirley transforms into a nightingale.
  • Acanti turns into a common goldeneye and talks to bees and butterflies.
  • Titch turns into an eurasian wren and speaks with lizards and crickets.
  • Tommy turns into a marsh tit and talks to deers.
  • Francis turns into a coal tit and speaks to mice, marmots and rabbits.
  • Nepeta turns into a puffin and talks to forest birds.
  • Celastro turns into a seagull and talks to wild pigs.
  • Melissa turns into a swallow.
  • Cherry turns into a crow, courtesy of Shirley. La also like to compare her with various kinds of snakes.
• Animate Dead: The army of the Enemy.
• Animorphism: All Magicals are capable of this and of doing it to others. Apparently, it's so common that the fact that you can tell whether a cow is really a Magical by tasting their milk seems relevant enogh to be taught in Magic Class with Aunt Tomelilla.
• Ascended Fangirl: Telli was an admirer of Tomelilla before going to work into the Periwinkle family. She's actually the reason she decided to become a babysitter.
• Back In My Day: The Captain does this sometimes.
• Bad Powers, Bad People: All the emisaries of the Enemy are Magicals of the Dark.
• Badass Family:
  • The Periwinkle-of the Ways family.
  • The Burdocks.
  • The Poppys, since they carry the Infinite Power.
• Badass Normal:
  • Cicero Periwinkle can hold his own against the Enemy while fighting besides Magicals. He even asked Duff to transform him to a hawk to look for the missing children during the siege of Fairy Oak. He keeps gping even when tired, soaked and wounded.
  • Joe Shuanma, despite being aroung eighty years old, once saved a child from a bull and could lift an entire cart when it fell on him.
  • Non-magicals don't shy away from protecting their precious village from the army of the Enemy, fighting huge monsters with their work utensils, rocks or, even, furniture from their houses.
  • While the men were defending Fairy Oak from under the wall, the housewives did the same from their houses's rooftops.
• Bad Date: Cicero and Dahlia's first date consisted on her getting soaked by the stormy sea while he explained how waves are formed. The cherry on top was that, when he tried to kiss her, she accidentally turned him into a seagull.
• Batman Can Breathe in Space: Telli has been able to see the stars up close without a spacesuit (as these don't exist).
• Battle in the Rain: The first attack of the Enemy happened during a (supernatural) storm.
• Beach Episode: The beginning of Flox Smiles in Autumn.
• Big Bad: The Enemy.
• Big Labyrinthine Building:
  • The Periwinkle's house.
  • The Pollimon's house. It's even nicknamed "The Castle" by the local children.
• Big "NO!":
  • Jim when the weights of his defense system don't fall properly, which almost rips Lilium's arm off.
  • The Fair Folk when La lowers her hood in the final battle.
• Birds of a Feather:
  • Middle-aged, big and lonely, Lilium Martagaon and the Vivian Amory.
  • Sweet, caring and loves drawing, Shirley and Tommy.
• Bittersweet Ending:
  • Telli leaving Fairy Oak is quite heartbreaking.
  • Shirley and Tommy. Their adorable love is doomed if they ever have a child.
• Black-and-White Morality: the townspeople are all good, the Terrible 21st and everything to have to do with it is evil.
• Black Cloak:
  • They are the Magical's traditional clothes.
  • The Enemy's army uses them for the same reason.
• The Blacksmith:
  • Hortensia Pollimon is not only a smith, she's also an artist and can create beautiful crafts using iron, which "has no secrets to her".
  • Lilium Martagon is a mountain of a man and very good at smithing.
• Book Dumb: Flox is hopeless at math.
• Boys Like Creepy Critters: Grisam is very entertained by La's bugs.
• Brainwashed: The Rock of Arrochar has this effect, specially on Magicals of the Dark. Grisam can snap out of it via The Power of Love.
• Brawn Hilda:
  • Hortensia Pollimon, if she wishes so.
  • Mrs. Rye can control her six mischievous and one calmer boys because of this.
• Brick Joke:
  • At the begining of The Power of Light, Mrs. Tulipa Ovan accuses the Captain of stealing her dentures. We learn at the end of the book that Grisam had them all along. The old lady had tried to burn them in the New Year's bonfires and the young wizard rescued them.
  • The Band discovered that the arts and crafts spells Shirley taught them hurt them if she isn't present. When Tommy and Vanilla return a ripped page of a book to the library, they make sure to take glue with them.
• Butt-Monkey:
  • To the Band's teasing: Acanti, lovingly, and Cherry, not so lovingly.
  • Duff Burdock to Meum Spignel's antics.
• Canon Discontinuity:
  • In The Dark Enchantment Flox, Vanilla and Grisam can talk while transformed into animals, which is described as impossible (by Grisam, nonetheless) in The Power of Light. Then, the members of the band can talk thile transformed in the 4 Mysteries.
  • In The Power of Light, Francis Rye is said to be a Wizard of the Dark. In the 4 Mysteries, all the Rye brothers are Wizards of the Light.
  • In the Trilogy, Acanti Bugle is shown having a little sister named Cloudy. Him being an only child is a relevant plot point of the 4 Mysteries, and Cloudy is relegated to being a cousin.
  • In Shirley's Enchanting Days Telli mentions that Shirley has a looong life. Yet she is narrating in a point of time where Shirley is just 15 years old.
  • In Flox Smiles in Autumn Fragaria Fress and Ivy Dhella are well and living amongst the townspeople. This shouldn't be possible, as they were both kidnapped by the Terrible 21st in his first attack. Mrs. Dhella joined his army and should've disappeared with it in The Power of Light, and mrs. Fress, had she not met that same fate, should be turned into stone in the Rock of Arrochar.
  • Despite Telli describing Jim as having dark eyes (like a fawn) and the offical art showing him as having black hair and eyes, Vanilla says he has golden eyes and brown hair in Farewell to Fairy Oak.
• Caring Gardener: Tomelilla loves taking care of the plants in the greenhouse while Telli tells her about the twins' day.
• The Cassandra: Mr. Berry to everyone except Tomelilla and Duff.
• The Cavalry: Averted with the fair folk in the final battle against the Enemy.
• Central Theme: Love and friendship.
• Character Narrator: Telli is the babysitter of the protagonists.
• Cheerful Child: Sophie Littlewalton is a textbook example of this.
• Chekhov's Gift: Vanilla's compass.
• Chekhov's Gun:
  • Shirley introduces Vanilla to her favorite tree, a willow, which later protects Vanilla when she is being chased by emisaries of the Enemy, and also did the same to Mint in the Ancient Book.
  • The book that Captain Talbot found in the remains of his friend's ship is no other than the missing second part of the Ancient Book.
  • The trunk that Grisam is denied talking to in The Dark Enchantment is a central plot piece for Love and Captain Grisam.
  • We learn in Magic Class with aunt Tomelilla that, in order to express their true love, male flies and octopuses give their beloveds an empty silk bag and blue pebbles respectively. Guess what Jim gives Vanilla five years later?
• Chekhov's Skill:
  • The twins' knowledge on how to use Cicero's telescope, spyglass and binoculars comes in handy when they spy on him to make sure he is safe doing his round.
  • Grisam makes metal objects rust until they disintegrate to entertain Flox and Vanilla during some winter afternoons. He does the same with Vanilla's cell lock in the Rock of Arrochar.
• Childhood Brain Damage: Played for Laughs as a reason for Lavender's strange behaviour. She fell off her crib when she was a week old.
• Childhood Friend Romance
  • The Unlucky Type: Vanilla and Grisam. Tommy and Vanilla.
  • The Lucky Kind: La and Grisam.
• Childhood Marriage Promise:
  • At first implied, then confirmed with Grisam and La. It was very romantic, with him jokingly threatening to turn her into a mush of mud and worms if she ever marries other guy (not that she'd really let him).
  • Telli accidentally eavesdrops when this happens between Vanilla and Jim.
• Child Mage: All of the protagonists and a good chunk of their friends. After all, the Magicals start showing and using their magic around the time their premolars start growing.
• The Chosen One: The twins and Shirley.
• Close-Knit Community: Being inhabitants of a small village in a far-away valley will do that to some people.
• Clothing Reflects Personality:
  • La preffers wearing pants over dresses and is more adventurous than her sister. She even says that, despite being nearly identical, Baboo looks better with dresses because of her personality.
  • Vanilla becomes more daring and outspoken when she starts wearing her sister's clothes.
  • Flox is very creative and loves colors. She is pretty easy to spot in a croud.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Most mistakenly think Shirley is this.
• Comically Missing the Point: Telli doesn't seen to understand why not telling Tomelilla about Vanilla flying for years would be important.
• Coming of Age Story: Although with unusually young protagonists.
• Connected All Along:
  • It turns out that Jim's grandfather is actually Charles Bullet, a pirate, friend of the Captain, and accidentally attacked the Isabella II, taking the cargo with him. Many years later, he seeked him, found him in Fairy Oak and returned many of his things to him. He kept the jewelry, toys and books, which Jim picked up while growing up. While looking through his grandfather's things, he found out the truth and took a map that guided him to Fairy Oak.
  • Snow wasn't just a character in the Ancient Book, she was also Lilac and Dahlia's babysitter.
• Cool Boat:
  • The Isabella II.
  • Shirley's is traslucent at the bottom, allowing her to see the sea and its creatures that are bellow her.
• Cool Old Lady: Lilac Tomelilla is a perfect example of this.
• Crush Blush:
  • Baboo when Grisam is mentioned. Also later with Jim.
  • La and Grisam whenever they share an intimate moment.
  • Tommy may keep his cool most of the time, but if Baboo compliments him, or someone finds out about his crush, he turns into a (metaphorical) tomato.
• Daddy Had a Good Reason for Abandoning You: Aberdeen Poppy got turned into a tree in the Forest-that-sings because Shirley, her daughter, inherited her Infinite Power. This is the only kind of power passed from parent to child, and such an exception breaks the Rules of Magic.
• Dads Can't Cook: Even though is crepes are excellent, the same can not be said about Cicero's cauliflower puree. It smells like rotten eggs, according to La.
• Dark Is Evil: Played with. While the Enemy is a Lord of Darkness and all of his army are Magicals of the Dark, many villagers have both Dark powers and good intentions.
• A Day in the Limelight: Grisam, Shirley and Flox all get this in the books that have their respective names on them.
• Deadpan Snarker:
  • La is an expert. Expect Cherry to be at the recieving end of her most sour comments.
  • Lilac Tomelilla may seem all high and mighty, but she's fond of this as well.
  • Pic is a rare fairy example. She doesn't like being made fun of for being chubby or not flying.
• Depower: Lilium Martagon suffers from this because of a magical illness.
• Devil in Disguise: Emisaries of the enemy used the voices of the twins to sow distrust into Viccard, the lighthouse guard.
• Don't Fear the Reaper:
  • The Captain.
  • The Old Friend Beech.
• Double Standard: Young wizards "don't need" fairy babysitters. Not that it wouldn't make Martha Burdock's life easier.
• Dragon Rider: Some legends about Tomelilla are true, after all.
• Dramatic Thunder: Primula Pull's hiccups count as this.
• Dr. Genericius: Hibiscus Castle.
• Dub Name Change: Partly justified, as Magicals are supposed to be named after plants. Doesn't make the fact that some characters names stay mainly the same (Lala Tomelilla vs. Lilac Tomelilla), but others change drastically (Scarlett Pimpernel vs. Cherry Spleenworth) any less weird. Also, even the official page doesn't seem to decide between Vanilla and Heather for the name of one of the main characters of the series.
• Early-Bird Cameo:
  • Captain Talbot barely appears in the first book, but becomes central to the third and fourth ones.
  • Almost all the children of the Band are mentioned before they become important characters.
• Elaborate Underground Base: The system of caves under the school.
• Emotional Powers: Magicals of the Dark can power up with wrath.
• "Eureka!" Moment: Grisam has one when the mayor calls Nibbler a "flea-ridden vagabond", clicking all the missing pieces about the Captain's true identity.
• Everyone Is Related: Heavily implied,specially when you take into account the Ancient Book, as Fairy Oak has been inhabited by the same families for centuries.
• Everyone Went to School Together: The Bryony Duckweed School is the only school in the village. The only exception is Shirley, who lives in Woodsend and not in Fairy Oak. And Jim, who's not native to the region.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Lampshaded by Tomelilla.
• Evil-Detecting Dog:
  • Nibbler can spot emisaries of the Enemy, which often ends with him being the victim of a transformation spell. In a less serious note, he also knows whenever Adelaide Spleenworth is up to no good.
  • Barolo when four emisaries of the Enemy show up at the Poppy household.
• Evil Makes You Monstrous: Darkly adverted. The Magicals of Fairy Oak are forced to fight against the unchanged faces of loves ones.
• Evil Tainted the Place:
  • The Rock of Arrochar.
  • The caves that connect the school to the Tall Forests.
• Extraordinary World, Ordinary Problems: Slipery frost is quite an impediment if you want to hang the laundry. Just ask Dahlia.
• Family Portrait of Characterization: Not present in the narrative, but the colored pages of the books include various.
• Fantastic Racism: Morus Voltar distrust all Magicals of the Dark, because they are capable of the same things as the emisaries of the Enemy.
• Fate Worse than Death: There are two options when the Enemy kidnaps you: you either join his army, betraying your family and friends and having to attack your village for eternity, or become part of the Rock of Arrochar, making you a sentient piece of stone, forced to helplessly watch as the same thing happens to other villagers for centuries.
• Fictional Sport: "Imitation" appears to be similar to hide and seek. Except the hiding team transforms into objects and animals instead of actually hiding.
• Fiery Redhead: Robin "Titch" Windflower can have quite the temper, specially if you insult his beloved Captain.
• First-Person Perspective: All the books are narrated by Telli, a babysitter fairy.
• Forbidden Zone:
  • The Rock of Arrochar.
  • The old gardens of the town hall.
  • The old Celtic graveyard.
  • The Aberdur lighthouse.
  • The beach of Arran.
• Formally-Named Pet: Mr. Berry.
• For the Evulz: Apparently, the only motivation of the Terrible 21st.
• Friend to All Children:
  • Captain Talbot, despite what his words may say. He even regularly takes Robin Windflower fishing and saw him learn how to fly.
  • Joe Shuanma, the caretaker of the school.
  • Fairies are like this by nature and, because of this, they make great babysitters.
  • Oak loves to have children playing around or on it.
  • Duff Burdock leads the Summer Games, which accept children from three to fifteen years of age, and he's very good at it.
• Friend to Bugs: La keeps a spider named Regina as her pet. She also often picks up other insects and keeps them in her pocket.
• Functional Magic: Fairy Oak has a magic system based on Magicals having two kinds of power: Light, which can enhance life and is creative, and Dark, that can destruct and kill. One person, called the Infinite Power, posseses both. Fairies and talking trees exist too.
• Funny Background Event: All of the Fairy Oak's Gazette extracts in Flox Smiles In Autumn.
• Garden Garment: Herbology socks are made with the plants of the Magical's respective garden or field.
• Gaslamp Fantasy:
  • Candles and oil lamps are still the main source of light (other than fairies, that's it).
  • Turn-of-the-century technology is used for meteorology.
  • Radio, bycicles and color photography and are commonly used.
  • Gramophones and typewritters exist, but are not common.
• Generation Xerox: Seemingly averted... until you read the extracts of "The Ancient Book".
• Genericist Government: How did Pancrazio Spleenwort become the mayor?
• Genki Girl: Flox Pollimon.
• Giant Squid: The longtentacles.
• Gossipy Hens: Adelaide Spleenqorth, Petula Penn and Fragaria Fress.
• Grail in the Garbage: Grisam likes to collect unburnt objects from the New Year's bonfires.
• Green Thumb: All Magicals of the Light can make plants magically grow.
• Grumpy Old Man:
  • Both Captain Talbot and Meum Spignet pretend to be this. Not like anyone believes them.
  • Arbor Patillasghip, the mailman, plays this trope straight.
• Gut Feeling:
  • La and Fluffpuff about the Captain's death.
  • Telli about Fluffypuff's death.
• Happily Married: Either explicitly expressed or implied with all married couples.
• Hate Sink: Cherry Spleenworth.
• Hates Being Nicknamed: Telli's original reaction to Tomelilla's shortening of her real name is basically of disgust.
• Heroic Dog: Barolo acts like this when Vanilla is being chased my emisaries of the Enemy.
• Hidden Depths:
  • Shirley's powers and the reason she has her pets.
  • Captain Tarbolt life story as discovered in Love and Captain Grisam.
• Homeschooled Kids: At least when it comes to magic.
• Iconic Sequel Character: Both Jim and Piffero appear (or are named) for the first time in The Power of Light.
• The Idealist: Duffus Burdock.
• Imprinting: Four ducklings decide that Barolo's dirty paws are their mom.
• Improvised Weapon: Including, but not limited to: canes, shovels, rakes, chairs, irons, the baker's fire iron, school desks, nails, shoes, hot oil, logs, paddles and even a double bass.
• In Another Man's Shoes: Thanks to a joke by Crataegus Oban, this is now a holiday in Fairy Oak, where the villager's live with an impairment of another member of the community for a day.
• I Never Told You My Name: Barbo Tagix correctly says Telli's real name the first time they meet, without asking her nor Tomelilla beforehand, that's it.
• Invisibility: Both Magicals of the Dark and fairies are capable of turning invisible.
• Involuntary Shapeshifting:
  • Mint, into a butterfly, when she is surprised by Duffus Burdock.
  • Lavender into a purple carpenter bee when the Enemy is trying to kidnap her.
• Ironic Fear: Pic, the fairy of the Rye family, is afraid of flying.
• Irony: Flox is a witch of the Dark, whose powers are based on destruction. Guess who is the character that likes colors the most loves arts and crafts?
• It's Probably Nothing: Most of the town regarding Primula Pull's hiccups and Mr. Berry's blue tongue.
• It Was a Dark and Stormy Night: Exactly the conditions before the first attack of the Terrible 21st took place.
• I Will Wait for You: This promise is made by Vanilla to Jim. She does wait for five years until he comes back.
• Just in Time:
  • The moment of the siege when the army of the Enemy simply stops and leaves.
  • The twins' and Shirley's intervention in the final battle.
• Kid Detective:
  • All of the Captain's Band when it comes to the Captain's past.
  • Shirley, aided by the Band, when investigating the mystery of the enchanted forest.
  • Flox regarding the Seasonal Madness.
• Lady of War: Lilac Tomelilla.
• Last-Name Basis: Cherry Spleenworth calls the twins "Periwinkle 1 and 2". Who is which depends on what twin she sees first that day.
• Lighter and Softer: The 4 Mysteries to the Trilogy.
• Like Father, Unlike Son: Viccard and Duffus Burdock have completely opposite principles, which makes them fight often.
• Little Miss Badass: Lavender.
• Living Drawing: La's coleopterous for Art class.
• Living Lie Detector: Both fairies and trees can smell lies. Whether they realize they are being lied to is a different topic alltogether.
• Loophole Abuse: Despite what the Magic Rules say, both Periwinkle twins have magic powers, because they were born twelve hours appart and, thus, are not perfect twins.
• Losing a Shoe in the Struggle: Pancatrio Spleenworth lost a shoe to a wave on the way to Tomelilla's birthday party.
• Magical Library: All Magicals have one in their respective Spell Room.
  • Hortensia Pollimon's contains titles such as "Poisons and Horrendous Transfigurations", "Bites and Wounds from Venomous Claws" and "The Empire of Darkness".
• Magic Misfire: Don't try to replicate the spells that Shirley taught you when she's not present. It can end with cut fingers, a damaged history book, stamps stuck to your skin or you stuck to the display cabinet of the most important magic text of all time.
• Magic Versus Science: Cicero's school years were like this. In a class of thirteen witches and three non-magical boys.
• Massive Numbered Siblings: Billy, Francis, Tommy, Robert, Ryan, Evan and Bevis Rye. The seven brothers are a known group of troublemakers around the village.
• Meaningful Name: The Captain started calling himself Talbot because that was the name of the vagabond dog of Charles Bullet.
• Mentor Mascot: Luther Pendragon is Shirley's teacher. He is also an old toad.
• Missing Mom: Aberdeen Poppy.
• Mistaken Age: Jim pretends to be eighteen, but he's actually sixteen years old. This doesn't amuse any of the adults at all.
• The Mole:
  • Once, Magicals of the Dark infiltrated the Enemy's army. Once everything beautiful in it was destroyed, the Enemy left, giving a victory to Fairy Oak.
  • Some townspeople suspect Lavender is just that after she was missing from the siege of Fairy Oak and came back from out of the village.
  • Lavender is that in the Enemy's army, having a plan to defeat it.
• Muggle–Mage Romance:
  • Formerly, Dahlia and Cicero.
  • Edgar and Aberdeen Poppy.
  • Vanilla and Jim.
• Mundane Fantastic: Having a fairy as a babysitter; playing hide-and-seek, but transforming into an object instead of hiding; talking to your friendly neighborhood tree; flying instead of walking, because the floor's too cold; turning a plant into a seed... just a normal day for a Magical kid in Fairy Oak.
• Mundane Utility:
  • The fairies can use their light as a telegraph.
  • Fairies are often used as flashlights.
  • Magicals of Light use their kisses to cure small scratches.
  • Quills with spellcheck.
  • Telli once acted as firefly bait.
  • Flying is often used for reaching for things or not touching the ground without shoes.
  • When aunt Tomelilla blew flour all over the house (long story), La used her magic to clean it.
  • Depending on the user's powers, finger can be used as pencils and glue, or erasers and scissors.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: The Terrible 21st a.k.a The Enemy.
• Nature Spirit:
  • The Otrot River has one that takes the shape of a knight and his mount.
  • The Ocean Wave in the beach takes the shape of a young lady.
• Never Learned to Read: Shirley Poppy.
• No Hugging, No Kissing: Tommy once lampshades that it's weird that Lavender and Grisam never display their affection in public (or private), not even by hugging.
• Not a Morning Person: Although La is always the first twin to wake up, getting her out of bed is an Odyssey on its own.
• Not Using the "Z" Word: The Enemy's army.
• The One That Got Away: Anna and Edward Temby are this to each other.
• The Order:
  • The Magic Counsil.
  • The Captain's Band.
• Old Money:
  • The Pollimons.
  • The Spleenworts.
• Our Fairies Are Different: Fairies are 2-inch creatures made out of light, with antennas that help them perceive te emotions of people around them. They have overly long and complicated names, that, when used, forces them to obey an order given. They can't really die; as soon as they seem like they did, their heart goes to another fairy, who will have the same courage and wisdom as her past life. Also, they work like babysitters.
• Our Mages Are Different:
  • Magic doesn't seem to need any special objects to be produced.
  • There are two types of Magical: of Light and of Dark, which define the kinds of spells the Magical can do.
  • Magic is inherited from aunts or uncles, not the parents, to their nieces or nephews.
  • There are some physical clues that can tip off a Magical, including: too-short or too-long earlobes, hair falling over the eyes, a potato-shaped nose.
  • Witches like to wear various layers of clothing, for some reason.
• Overly Long Name: The fairies have long and complicated names, because, if a human calls them by their real name without mistakes, they must obey the order they are given. Twelvefluffypuffsofwind and fjoyfulyoushallbeyoushallwishtotellitme are some examples.
• Panicky Expectant Father: Cicero during Dahlia's labour of the twins.
• Parental Abandonment: Aberdeen Poppy disappeared the same day her daughter, Shirley, was born. She was last seen near the lighthouse of Aberdur.
• The Peeping Tom: Crocus Pills, Elderberry Barks and the Mc Load brothers. They have the added bonus of being able to make things (clothes) disappear.
• Penny-Pinching Crab: The hermit crab that finds the salt sword is this.
• Platonic Life-Partners:
  • Tomelilla and Duff. Exaggerated when we learn that they once declared their love for each other but decided to stay as friends, because neither wanted to pursue a romantic relationship at that point of their lives.
  • Fluffypuff and Captain Talbot. She saved him when he was an amnesiac castaway. They hold an special respect and friendly love to each other. Even their death dates are close to each other.
• Polar Opposite Twins: While Vanilla is calm, friendly and listens to the adults, Lavender is energetic, sarcastic and likes creepy things. There's their powers too.
• Power Nullifier: The black cages.
• The Power of Friendship: A common theme in the series. It's through friendship that the townspeople deal with the attacks of the Enemy and how the Captain's Band is formed.
• Practically Different Generations:
  • Tomelilla is described as an older lady, while Dahlia is quite youthful.
  • Acanti and Daisy are born twelve years appart.
  • Rosie was born when Hortensia was 15. She was a Surprise Pregnancy.
• The Prophecy: The hidden words in "Grandma Austerity's Recipes" could count as this.
• Randomly Gifted: La's Dark powers make no geneological sense.
• Recurring Dreams: The twins have these in The Dark Enchantment. Lavender's are nightmares.
• Red String of Fate: In the times of the Ancient book, witches discovered who they would marry by looking into a magic torrent.
• The Reveal: When Lavender transforms into a purple carperter bee to escape the attacks of the Enemy, revealing she's a Witch of the Dark.
• Rich Bitch: Cherry and Adelaide Spleenworth.
• Rite of Passage:
  • In the times of the Ancient Book, every summer solstice, sixteen year-old witches wore a special gown woven with silver and look into a magical torrent to see the face of their future husband.
  • That same night, the young wizards would compete on trials to prove their courage, agility and intelligence.
• Robe and Wizard Hat: But, instead of a robe, it's a black woollen cloak. And this is only used in special occasions.
• Running Gag:
  • Oak being cut off or misunderstood because it speaks too slowly.
  • Cherry being unwilling transformed into an animal. Bonus points if it's one that "slithers along and says nothing".
  • Meum's bad hearing.
  • People being scared of Dr. Chesnut Pestemon's special ointment.
  • Billie Ballatel's (bad) trumpet playing.
  • Every time the members of the Band start a storm of questions, it always ends with someone asking a completely unrealated one. More often than not, it's little Sophie Comically Missing the Point.
• Sadist Teacher: Margherita de Transvall. Even Euforbia Flumel, the headmistress is scared of her.
• Savage Wolves: Part of the Enemy's forces is made up of these. Except they are transformed Magicals.
• Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: The Captain's Band when they are told to hide under the school. Instead, they transform into birds and help Vanilla with her plan against the Enemy.
• Sea Monster: The Captain has a logbook full of descriptions and drawings of them.
• Second Love:
  • Vanilla and Jim.
  • Tommy and Shirley.
• Secret Room: The space under the stair and the Spell Room in the Periwinkle house.
• Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: Acantos can be like this sometimes.
• Shapeshifting: All Magicals are capable of transforming themselves and others to various objects, plants and animals, limited only by the nature of their powers and their magical ability.
• Shared Dream: The twins have these in The Dark Enchantment. Each one dreams of one half of a witch, the half the other sister doesn't see.
• Shipper on Deck: Nepeta Rose's favorite hobby is creating "perfect couples" between the children of Fairy Oak.
• Ship Tease:
  • Flox and Acanti are shown to really trust each other, and Nepeta thinks they'd look good together. The cuteness factor rises when you realize that he always adds "dear" before her name when talking to her.
  • Nepeta Rose and Francis Rye.
• The Siege: Fairy Oak is sieged by the Enemy in The Dark Enchantment.
• Sleeping Dummy: La once does this to try to sneak out of the house. Aunt Tomelilla notices.
• Slice of Life: "Farewell To Fairy Oak". It's even lampshaded in its prologue.
• Speaks Fluent Animal: Shirley. She even corrects Mr. Berry's pronunciation sometimes.
• Speech Impediment: Acanti "​The Boy who Wears Specth" Bugle, ​Luther "​Professor Vocabulawy" Pendragon and Titch all have this.

• Sufficiently Analyzed Magic : Implied by Tomelilla's résumé.
• Super Powerful Genetics: Magic is passed down from aunts or uncles to their nieces and/or nephews.
• Super-Senses: Fairies have very good smell and hearing. Telli uses the latter a lot to listen to conversations happening in other rooms.
• Sweet Polly Oliver: Isabella Diderous really wanted to be a sailor, but she was an aristocrat's daughter.
• Teen Genius: Jim is a very capable inventor eighteen years of age.
• Theme Naming: Magicals are named after plants.
• Time Stands Still: What happens if Light and Dark become one.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: Lavender and Vanilla, respectively.
• Tragic Stillbirth: Happened during Mrs. Windflower second pregnancy, and it's the reason behind her overprotective nature over Titch.
• Training the Gift of Magic: The purpose of aunt Tomelilla's class is this.
• Trauma-Induced Amnesia: Captain Talbot after the shipwreck of the Isabella II.
• Traumatic Superpower Awakening: Lavender is being kidnapped by the Terrible 21st when she, in order to scape spiky vines, turns into a violet carpenter bee.
• Trilogy: The first three books follow the same story as it develops. Also, they are called "The Trilogy".
• The Trope without a Title: "The Terrible 21st" a.k.a "The Enemy".
• Tragic Dropout: Edgar Poppy from his lifestyle as an itinerant artist.
• Trash of the Titans: The Spell Room of the Of the Ways family has accumulated centuries worth of unused objects.
• Treasure Map: Uncle Duff has one of these for Roseto Spleenworth's cane-sword.
• Trojan Horse: Aunt Tomelilla suspects that the wands found in the twins' witch uniforms are this: They are actually a heartwarming present from Cicero.
• Tsundere:
  • Scarlet-Violet Spleenworth acts like this with Duffus Burdock.
  • Nepeta Rose and Francis Rye act like this towards each other. It may be explained by their young age.
• Unusual Pets for Unusual People: Shirley has a dog named Barolo, a mouse with a liking for blueberry candy named Mr. Berry and a stork named Antenna as her pets.
• The Usual Adversaries: The army of the Enemy is formed exclusively by dark creatures and Magicals of the Darkness that once resided in Fairy Oak.
• Voluntary Shapeshifting: All Magicals are capable of this.
• Weird Currency: Telli's salary consists of ten rose petals a month, with two orange bread rolls for festive days.
• We Can Rule Together: An offer of this kind is made on behalf of the Enemy by Humulus Bellepor to Lavender.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Lavender joining the forces of the Enemy.
• When It All Began: The stracts of "The Ancient Book" count as this.
• With a Friend and a Stranger: Vanilla, Lavender and Shirley.
• When Trees Attack:
  • Plantlife seems to be the preferred weapon of choice of the Terrible 21st on its first attack.
  • Oak can walk.
  • All the trees of the Forest-that-sings can move to a certain degree. It's because they are transformed Magicals being pushined fro breaking the Magic Law. They mostly do it to protect children.
• Wicked Cultured: Humulus Bellepor is very handsome, intelligent, polite and can be soft-spoken. He is also the second-in-command of the Forces of Evil.
• Wizards Live Longer:
  • The youngest member of the Council during the times of the Ancient Book was 6567 years old. Such longevity is not seen anymore by the time the events of the books take place, though.
  • Barbo Tagix is more than a thousand years old.
• Writing Lines:
  • A variant. Tomelilla has Telli read the definitions of "nothing" and "unusual" 1500 times each because she failed to report Vanilla's flying for years.
  • Euforbia Flumel makes Lavender do this with the 1st article of the Magical Law when she transforms Cherry into a viper.
• Wrong Turn at Albuquerque: Happens once to Acanti. Without his glasses. While he was transformed into a mouse. In the underground system of tunnels used by wild animals.
• The X of Y: The titles of the books of the trilogy:
  • "The Secret of the Twins".
  • "The Charm of Darkness".
  • "The Power of Light".