History Literature / TheTripods

** The blackguards are, for the most part, quite polite and even understanding and supportive, all the while in no way deviating from their duties. Averted with a few individual blackguards, particularly in Germany and in the Masters' city, who are outright nasty and sadistic by comparison, as well as by the blackguards near the White Mountains[[spoiler:, though the latter turn out to be resistance members wearing false caps who are trying to suss out infiltrators who have been hypnotised by the Masters and would thus be obedient even while not wearing caps]].

* AffablyEvil: Al Pasha, who runs a traveling circus of children -- either the offspring of vagrants or children who've run away to avoid capping. Those who don't have the talent to perform he hands over to the Black Guards for money. Will and Beanpole avoid this fate by promising him they know the location of buried treasure (the remains of a gold and silver chess set Beanpole has found). Because he can't take the other children with them into the White Mountains, Pasha arranges for the Black Guards and a Tripod to turn up so they can be capped, with the Guards taking the pick of the bunch.

* HollywoodHeartAttack: Fritz finds one of Julius' spies working in the nuclear reactor. He says he's got a heart condition brought on by the high gravity and the stress of working alone as a spy for years, but is given a new lease of life by meeting another freeman. Just when he's about to reveal the plans he's worked out for escape and sabotage, he realises he's late for his shift and collapses from a fatal heart attack.

* AnAesop: Freedom to think for, and be, yourself. Also, the need for humanity to put aside differences and work together.

* SuicideAttack: [[spoiler:How Henry manages to destroy the final City.]]

* ArtisticLicenseBiology: In ''The Pool of Fire'', the resistance uses newly-recreated scuba gear to get inside the City, and they are described by Will as "bottles with the part of air that humans actually use isolated inside them". Scuba tanks ''never'' use pure oxygen, as it is harmful to humans under pressure. Scuba tanks use compressed air (78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, 1% Argon and other trace gases), never pure oxygen.

''The Tripods'' refers to a young adult trilogy-and-a-prequel series of ScienceFiction novels written by British author Creator/JohnChristopher. This series of novels tells the story of the conquest and eventual liberation of Earth by alien invaders [[SerialNumbersFiledOff inspired by the Martians of]] ''Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds1898''.

In ''The City of Gold and Lead'', Will and Fritz, a boy from the White Mountains resistance, compete in "the games", an Olympic competition the winners of whom are selected to serve in the domed, environmentally controlled cities of the "masters" who operate the Tripods. Having been selected, they infiltrate the Tripods' European headquarters, located in Germany, and learn valuable information about the masters' biology, and their long-term plan to terraform Earth to their standards (and eradicate humanity in the process).

''The Tripods'' was also adapted into a live action television series, produced jointly by Creator/TheBBC and the Australian Seven Network. Two seasons, covering the first two books, were broadcast in 1984 and 1985 respectively. A script for the third season was written, but never filmed (Michael Grade of ''Series/DoctorWho'' cancellation fame also cancelled this). A theatrical film is now in pre-production, although it seems to be stuck squarely in DevelopmentHell. It was also serialized in comic form for the magazine ''Boy's Life'' in the 1980s.

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

''The Tripods'' refers to a young adult trilogy-and-a-prequel series of ScienceFiction novels written by British author Creator/JohnChristopher. This series of novels tells the story of the conquest and eventual liberation of Earth by alien invaders [[SerialNumbersFiledOff inspired by the Martians of]] ''Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds''.

** The Tripods were a deliberate one to H. G. Wells' ''Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds''.

* TripodTerror: Of course. Probably the second-most iconic example in fiction after ''Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds''

** Also, the prequel has a ShoutOut to Film/CloseEncountersOfTheThirdKind, as well as a very subtle one to Series/{{Alf}}

* SpiritualSuccessor: To ''Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds''.

** In general, Will and the other spies and freemen are often horrible at blending in and carefully aping the behaver of the capped population to avoid suspicion - even in the Masters city. ''Especially'' in the Masters city.

* ArtisticLicensePhysics: The gravitational constant in Earth is thirty-two feet per second squared, not sixteen as described in the book.

* HumanPopsicle: Eloise is preserved with other specimens of beauty or scientific interest to be taken to the Master's planet. Will is no less disturbed on seeing this.

* SheIsTheKing: Straddles the line between Types 2 and 3. In ''When the Tripods Came'', during the stopover in Guernsey, the narrator comments that the islanders hail the Queen as the ''Duke'' of Normandy, which, according to Wiki/TheOtherWiki, is her correct style despite her gender.

* WickedCultured: The Masters appreciate beauty. So they have the Capped humans hold beauty contests for young girls. They take the "winners" and kill them, perfectly preserving their bodies forever, like butterflies under museum glass. They honestly don't have any moral problem with this, any more than a butterfly collector who doesn't realize he's killing what he claims to appreciate.
** In fairness, butterflies are already at the end of their lifecycle. In the adult stage of their life cycle, butterflies only live a couple of weeks at most. Of course, to the Masters, [[WeAreAsMayflies We Are As Butterflies]].

* ChekhovsGunman: Ilse in ''When the Tripods Came''. Her nationality and parentage become very important to the plot.

* BrainwashedAndCrazy: The Capped. Not so much crazy, though, unless you start insulting or acting against the Tripods.

* BenevolentAlienInvasion: Subverted. It often looks idyllic and it builds up a big shock when we learn that they plan to KillAllHumans.

* BerserkButton: Never speak or act against the Tripods if someone Capped is around, unless you're well armed.

* BlueAndOrangeMorality: The Masters unsurprisingly are revealed to have an alien way of thinking about things; some examples appear below.

* ChildSoldiers: The recruits of LaResistance.
** This is of necessity, of course. Virtually no un-Capped adults exist outside of the Resistance--and the adult members of the Resistance were undoubtedly once ChildSoldiers themselves.

* CurbStompBattle: The initial encounter between a Tripod and a [[TanksForNothing Challenger tank]] in the prequel results in a [[IncrediblyLamePun crushing]] [[CombatTentacles defeat]].

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Will's removal of Eloise's turban is almost treated as some kind of sexual assault.

* HumansAreWarriors : Subverted. The AlienInvasion comes off almost without a hitch. However it is explained that the planners of the invasion had feared that human military technology might make them difficult prey if the invaders were to fight them directly.

* TheReveal: [[spoiler: The Masters' plan to destroy life on Earth to make it habitable for their own species.]]

* ShoutOut: The Tripods were a deliberate one to H. G. Wells' ''Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds''.

* StarfishAliens: The Masters; three-metre tall conical-beings with three short legs, three tentacles, three eyes, and two mouths. One for eating the other for breathing.
** The TV series changes them a bit, but they're still non-humanoid. There, they look like three-legged Ghomas with one single eye, and plant-like physiology.

* TheGuardsMustBeCrazy: Will and Henry sneak out of a French prison past a guard [[BehindTheBlack who at one point is standing in a position that meant he'd be looking into the (now empty) cell they've just escaped from]].