History Literature / MirrorMirror

[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/MirrorMirror_1984.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:200: Where [[Creator/WaltDisney Disney]], {{Grimmification}} and HistoricalFiction come together... ]]

-> ''I am a girl who did something wrong''
-> ''I am the other side of the snow''
-> ''I am a mirror, a mirror am I''
-> '''''Mirror Mirror on the wall'''''
-> '''''Who is the fairest one of all'''''
-->-- '''Introduction'''

Less-celebrated than ''Literature/{{Wicked}}'' or ''Literature/ConfessionsOfAnUglyStepsister'', Creator/GregoryMaguire's ''Mirror, Mirror'' is a revisionist take on the tale of ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs'' (in case the title didn't tip you off).

Set in 16th Century Italy, the story centers around the circumstances surrounding the young Bianca de Nevada and her family's encounter with [[UsefulNotes/TheBorgias Lucrezia and Cesare Borgia]], two children of the Borgia Pope. Bianca is the only daughter of recently-appointed Don Vincente de Nevada. A widower, Vincente keeps Bianca isolated from the small country town, where she grows up used to being alone. Their quiet life is ruined when the power-hungry Borgia siblings arrive on their doorstep. In exchange for his daughter's safety, Cesare Borgia forces Vincente off on a seemingly-impossible quest to recover a branch which purportedly still carries three of the apples from the Tree of Knowledge. Vincente reluctantly agrees, but quickly becomes the prisoner to the Apple branch's keepers.

Time passes, and with the death of the pope, the Borgia family loses most of its political power. Cesare's military career likewise fails and he himself becomes terminally ill. In a desperate grasp for a political alliance with the de Nevada family, he attempts to rape the eleven-year-old Bianca. Jealous that her brother desired another woman in his last days, Lucrezia arranges for the girl to be covertly murdered. However, the hired killer spares Bianca's life whereupon she falls into the domain of seven mysterious entities with power over earth and stone...

Not to be confused with the 2012 [[Film/MirrorMirror film]] or the [[Series/MirrorMirror tv series]] of the same name.

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!! ''Mirror, Mirror'' Provides Examples Of:

* BittersweetEnding: Best you can hope for from Gregory Maguire, really. [[spoiler: Lucrezia and Cesare are dead, Don Vincente's still alive but fading fast, Primavera's ''literally'' lost her tongue, the dwarfs are all irrevocably mortal and Bianca's [[YoungerThanTheyLook slept half her life]]. Oh, and her reunion with her dying pop is offscreen.]]
* BrokenBird: Bianca, naturally.
* BrotherSisterIncest: The only man Lucrezia ''truly'' seems to love is her brother Cesare. [[spoiler: The mentally-impaired goose-boy is their child]].
* DepravedBisexual: Cesare boasts of his (offscreen) liasons with both men and women. But [[EveryoneIsBi most men were bi then]] anyway...
* DoubleDoubleTitle: Its name is because it's a revisionist take on the tale of ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs''
* DyingDream: [[spoiler: Lucrezia has a Dying Nightmarish in her final chapter..]]
* FreudianExcuse: Cesare and Lucrezia didn't have much chance of normalcy from their upbringing... [[spoiler: And mercury poisoning didn't help Lucrezia much either.]]
* HandsomeLech: Cesare and Lucrezia again.
* HistoricalVillainUpgrade: Oh, come on. ''Guess''.
* HiveMind: The dwarfs seem to have one. [[spoiler: [[HumanityEnsues At first.]]]]
* HumanityEnsues: The dwarfs want to become human to adapt to a magic-free world. [[spoiler: They get their wish. [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor Unfortunately for them.]]]]
* KickTheDog: The Borgias wrote the book.
* LittlePeopleAreSurreal: Lucrezia gets a monologue to this effect.
* TheMagicGoesAway: Magic seems to be on its way out, and the dwarfs realize that they need to adjust quick or they're going with it.
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: Lucrezia. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] since ''she's the Lucrezia who started it all.''
* ObfuscatingStupidity: Fra Ludovico survives Lucrezia's wrath exclusively for this.
* ParentalIncest: Implied (but not confirmed) to have happened between Lucrezia and her father. [[spoiler: Also occurs offscreen between Lucrezia and the gooseboy.]]
* PsychopathicManchild: While not AxCrazy, Lucrezia hasn't developed an adult sense of responsibility or human worth, seeing little wrong in drowning an illegitimate child or killing a girl she swore she'd protect.
* RealityWarper: [[SubvertedTrope It goes both ways]] with the dwarfs. While they can alter reality to suit their needs, [[YourMindMakesItReal human thoughts can also affect their very nature]].
* ReallyGetsAround: Neither Borgia is even remotely picky about who they take to bed.
* ShapedLikeItself: Laps into DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment.
-->''Bianca'': The sky-blue sky is blue as the sky.
* ShownTheirWork: Gregory Maguire did a decent bit of research for this book and kindly shares a bit of history in the back
* UnreliableNarrator: Shifts unexpectedly from First to Third person, from poetry to prose, from human diction to dwarf mentality. None of the voices are 100% accurate.
* VainSorceress: Averted. Lucrezia is plenty vain alright, but is in no way a sorceress.
* VillainousIncest: Lucrezia will take ''any'' man to her bed. Including her brother. And possibly her father.
* {{Yandere}}: Cesare tries to rape Bianca ''on his deathbed''. Lucrezia does the reasonable thing and tries to [[MurderTheHypotenuse kill her]] no less than ''four times...''

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Set in 16th Century Italy, the story centers around the circumstances surrounding the young Bianca de Nevada and her family's encounter with Lucrezia and Cesare Borgia, two children of the Borgia Pope. Bianca is the only daughter of recently-appointed Don Vincente de Nevada. A widower, Vincente keeps Bianca isolated from the small country town, where she grows up used to being alone. Their quiet life is ruined when the power-hungry Borgia siblings arrive on their doorstep. In exchange for his daughter's safety, Cesare Borgia forces Vincente off on a seemingly-impossible quest to recover a branch which purportedly still carries three of the apples from the Tree of Knowledge. Vincente reluctantly agrees, but quickly becomes the prisoner to the Apple branch's keepers.

* AnythingThatMoves: Neither Borgia is even remotely picky about who they take to bed.

* DoubleDoubleTitle: It's name is because its a revisionist take on the tale of ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs''

!''Mirror, Mirror'' Provides Examples Of:

* MonsterSobStory: Lucrezia isn't [[AffablyEvil nice]] or especially [[FauxAffablyEvil likeable]], but she's about as sympathetic as an amoral murderess can be.

Less-celebrated than ''Literature/{{Wicked}}'' or ''Literature/ConfessionsOfAnUglyStepsister'', GregoryMaguire's ''Mirror, Mirror'' is a revisionist take on the tale of ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs'' ([[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin in case the title]] [[CaptainObvious didn't tip you off]]).

[[caption-width-right:200: Where [[WaltDisney Disney]], {{Grimmification}} and HistoricalFiction come together... ]]

Not to be confused with the 2012 [[Film/MirrorMirror film]] or the [[MirrorMirror tv series]] of the same name.

Less-celebrated than ''Literature/{{Wicked}}'' or ''Literature/ConfessionsOfAnUglyStepSister'', GregoryMaguire's ''Mirror, Mirror'' is a revisionist take on the tale of ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs'' ([[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin in case the title]] [[CaptainObvious didn't tip you off]]).

Less-celebrated than ''Literature/{{Wicked}}'' or ''ConfessionsOfAnUglyStepSister'', GregoryMaguire's ''Mirror, Mirror'' is a revisionist take on the tale of ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs'' ([[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin in case the title]] [[CaptainObvious didn't tip you off]]).

* MonsterSobStory: Lucrezia isn't [[AffablyEvil nice]] or especially [[EvillyAffable likeable]], but she's about as sympathetic as an amoral murderess can be.

* AlasPoorVillain: [[spoiler: Even if you don't like her, Lucrezia's death scene is [[NightmareFuel terrifying and disturbing]] enough to elicit plenty of sympathy...]]

* JerkassWoobie: Lucrezia Borgia definitely, and Cesare occasionally.

* {{Squick}}: ''PLENTY''. But most everyone can recall the scene in the book that can only be described as a menstrual fountain.

* TheWoobie: Bianca. Don Vincente de Nevada even moreso. [[spoiler: ''Hopefully'' he finds out his daughter's still alive..]]

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/MirrorMirror_1984.jpg [[caption-width:200: Where [[WaltDisney Disney]], {{Grimmification}} and HistoricalFiction come together... ]]

* {{Yandere}}: Cesare tries to rape Bianca ''on his deathbed''. Lucrezia does the reasonable thing and tries to [[MurderTheHypotenuse kill her]] no less than ''four times...''

* BeyondTheImpossible: Make ''Snow White'' both interesting and surprising to an adult audience!? MADNESS!

* TentacleRape: ''[[InvertedTrope Inverted]]'' of all things with Primavera. Unless the squid somehow consented, of course.

* {{Yandere}}: Cesare tries to rape Bianca ''on his deathbed''. Lucrezia does the reasonable thing and tries to [[MurderTheHypotenuse kill her]] no less than ''four times...''

* BrokenBird: Bianca, naturally. Lucrezia [[YourMileageMayVary may qualify]] too.

Less-celebrated than {{Wicked}} or ConfessionsOfAnUglyStepSister, GregoryMaguire's ''Mirror, Mirror'' is a revisionist take on the tale of ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs'' ([[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin in case the title]] [[CaptainObvious didn't tip you off]]).

Less-celebrated than {{Wicked}}, GregoryMaguire's ''Mirror, Mirror'' is a revisionist take on the tale of ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs'' ([[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin in case the title]] [[CaptainObvious didn't tip you off]]).

* {{Squick}}: ''PLENTY''