- The Whitby Witches
- A Warlock in Whitby
- The Whitby Child
In the first book, Ben and Nelda search for a treasure called the Moonkelp which the Aufwaders ancestor Irl, an Expy of Prometheus, stole from their gods, but an evil witch named Rowena Cooper searches for the same treasure.
In the second, Cooper’s husband, the warlock Nathaniel Crozier comes to Whitby with the intention of unleashing the Morgawrus, the sea-dragon that destroyed Atlantis, the Aufwaders original home, before being imprisoned beneath the cliffs of Whitby by the gods of the sea. Meanwhile Nelda is being blackmailed by the Aufwaders chief village elder, Esau, into marrying him.
In the final book, Nelda is now pregnant with Esau’s child. and the followers of Crozier have come to Whitby to try and kill Ben.
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Use the Sight to perceive the Tropes found herein:
- Above Good and Evil: The Lords of the Deep and Dark, the three gods of the sea, also known as the Deep Ones and the Triad, have this opinion of themselves. Miss Boston disagrees, saying that they will ultimately answer to the God of the universe himself.
- Alpha Bitch: Meta, the most beautiful of the Brides of Crozier has this vibe, and Rowena plays this role to “the Ladies Circle” in book one, being very alpha and secretly a ([[Our Werewolves Are Different literal) complete bitch.
- Ambiguously Bi: Jennet in book three, if you want to read something into her relationship with Pear, Meta’s daughter.
- Annoying Younger Sibling: Ben to Jennet, though she still loves him.
- Attention Whore: Meta cannot live without the limelight as noted by Jennet and repeatedly pointed out by Pear.
- Aww Look They Really Do Love Each Other: You see this sometimes with Ben and Jennet as stated above, and Meta ultimately loves Pear, in spite of the way she bullies her, and is left devastated after Pear takes her knife for Jennet. The Gregsons are a couple consisting of a lazy, alcoholic hyperchondriac and his nagging wife, but when he's sent into a coma by Nathaniel and she becomes his carer, she's devastated. With Crozier's death, Mr. Gregson gets better, the two of them reconcile and he changes his ways. It's possibly Crozier's only positive contribution to the world.
- Badass Boast: Nathaniel Crozier comes out with these constantly, Morgawrus gets out a few and Ben’s evil future self goes and tops them both.
- Bad People Abuse Animals: Well, the corpses of animals anyway. Danny Turner, the resident bully, finds the corpse of a cat killed by the fish-demon and plans on affixing it to the front of his bicycle.
- Big Bad: Rowena Cooper in book one, Nathaniel Crozier in book two and the Lord of the Frozen Wastes for book three.
- Big Good: Miss Boston is this for the entire series, and to a lesser extent, the Lord of the Circling Seas, who’s easily the most benevolent among his brothers, not that that’s still saying much. Also the Angel who appears in the final book.
- Big Sister Instinct: Jennet to Ben, of whom she’s very protective at the end of the day.
- Blue-and-Orange Morality: The three gods of the Aufwaders, the Lords of the Deep and Dark seem to operate by this.
- Beard of Evil: Crozier sports one of these.
- Broken Pedestal: Crozier to Jennet when she realises what sort of a person he really is. Meta and Pear are this to her as well when she learns that Meta is one of his Brides and Pear is his daughter, and they both worship him still.
- Broke Your Arm Punching Out Cthulhu: Miss Boston uses the last Guardian to seal away Morgawrus again, but exhausts herself in the process and spends most of the third book recovering.
- The Bully: Danny Turner in the second book, who bullies Ben “Fer bein’ weird, yeh stinkin’ cret”, to the point of spitting in his face and throwing a dead rotting cat at him. Crozier in his treatment of his harem comes across as a Schoolyard Bully All Grown Up.
- Can't Hold Her Liquor: Sister Frances, who gets completely gazeboed from Miss Boston adding a bit of vodka to the orange juice at Jennet's birthday party.
- The Casanova: Crozier is a ‘’very’’ dark example, being leader of a polygamous cult of women he controls through psychological abuse and dark magic.
- Character Catchphrase: “I am a master of domination and control” for Crozier.
- Character Death: Miss Boston at the climax of ''The Whitby Child.
- The Chessmaster: Nathaniel Crozier is one of these in ‘’A Warlock in Whitby’’. He sends his minion Judith Deacon to poison Miss Boston’s wealthy friend and fellow witch Patricia Gunner so that Miss Boston goes to care for her, leaving Whitby so that he can go there and find what he’s looking for without her interfering, after she defeated his second-in-command Rowena in the previous book.
- He’s outplayed by the Lord of the Frozen Wastes in The Whitby Child, who is turns out was manipulating him, wanting Crozier to release Morgawrus so that it would kill his brothers and he could rule alone. When he sees into the future and discovers that Ben will go on to become a threat, he contacts the Brides of Crozier and promises to resurrect Nathaniel for them if they kill Ben.
- Cloudcuckoolander: Sister Frances, the well-meaning but very annoying nun.
- Creepy Child: Ben is a good version of this. Other children are freaked out by him and he’s a kid with the Sight who is destined to go on to be an incredibly powerful and potentially very evil sorcerer. Crozier may have been one of these as well.
- Creepy Good: The Aufwaders, who are a clan of (mostly) very nice sea-fairers who look like creatures designed by Jim Henson.
- Cult: The Coven of the Black Sceptre, aka: the Brides of Crozier are a cult of witches that venerate their High Priest, Nathaniel Crozier, as a god and are all married to him.
- Deadpan Snarker: Miss Boston, Nathaniel Crozier and to an extent the Morgawrus all qualify, but Rowena Cooper takes the cake.
- Demonic Possession: Subverted. Angelic Possession with Sister Frances.
- Diabolical Mastermind: Nathaniel Crozier is stated to be "the unseen hand behind countless burglaries of rare artifacts", making him a kind of warlock version of Professor Moriarty.
- Did Mom Just Have Tea with Cthulhu?: Textbook example here. After seeing Crozier destroy the first Guardian the previous night, Ben walks into the house to see him having tea and biscuits with his big sister. Crozier goes and tops it by coming back with the Fish Demon which only Ben, having the Sight, can see. He and Jennet chat over tea as it waddles about the room terrifying Ben.
- Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?: Miss Boston treats the Triad to a thoroughly satisfying and deserved "The Reason You Suck" Speech during her audience with them. She gets away with this because they can't smite her on account of the fact that Tarr has given Nelda instructions to break the Guardian and release Morgawrus if the two of them don't make it back to Whitby in one peace by morning.
- Dirty Old Man: Esau, the head Village Elder of the Aufwaders and who orders Nelda to marry him, despite the fact that she’s eighty and therefore only a teenager in Aufwader years.
- Disc-One Final Boss: Rowena Cooper is the Big Bad of the first book but leaves a lasting impression. The other characters talk and think about her more regularly than any other villain, even Crozier himself.
- Disney Villain Death: In ‘’The Whitby Child’’, one of the Brides of Crozier is a sadistic bookshop shopkeeper called Miriam Gower, who after using enchanted seal skin to pretend to be the ghost of Ben’s mother, attempts to throw him off the pier, only for a nun possessed by an angel to stop her and throw her off instead.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: Crozier uses his hypnotic powers to make Jennet fall in love with him, even though she’s twelve. As with Diary Riddle and Ginny, he (thankfully) has no interest in her personally except as a means to achieving his goal, and as with Riddle, finds her utterly pathetic, but in both cases, it could be seen as a disturbing allegory of child grooming. Crozier’s control over the dowdy, lonely unloved spinsters whom he’s converted into his Brides and whom he treats like dirt is also an obvious allegory for real life polygamous cults and for women trapped in relationships with abusive men.
- Draconic Abomination: The Morgawrus in ‘’A Warlock in Whitby’’, “the fell dragon of the ancient world”, an evil sea-serpent that destroyed Atlantis and was imprisoned beneath the cliffs of what would become Whitby by the Lords of the Deep and Dark.
- The Dreaded: Rowena Cooper develops this reputation towards Miss Boston, Jennet and Ben, who are pretty traumatised by her actions in the first book. She’s overshadowed by her boss, Nathaniel Crozier however. The Morgawrus is referred to as “the Dreaded One” and ultimately Ben, who is destined to become a sorcerer so powerful that even the Deep Ones fear him.
- The Dragon: Silas Gull is this to Rowena in The Whitby Wiches. The Fish-Demon is this to Crozier in ‘’A Warlock in Whitby’’. Both Rowena and Meta take this role to him as well. Rowena however is a Dragon with an Agenda.
- Eldritch Abomination: The Triad. Rowena becomes one of these in ‘’The Whitby Child’’.
- Enfante Terrible: Danny Turner, “one of the most unpleasant little yobs to ever dream of getting his knuckles tatooed.” He might be only ten, but no-one’s shedding any tears for him after he’s killed by the Fish-Demon. Crozier was one of these if a throw-away remark he makes in book 2 is anything to go by.
- Evil Genius: Hillian is the most intelligent of the Brides of Crozier after Rowena’s death, leading Nathaniel to appoint her his high priestess when he returns from the dead.
- Evil Is Hammy: As in most of Jarvis’s books, the villains are the hammiest characters. Esau becomes increasingly hammy the further into his Villainous Breakdown he gets and the Brides of Crozier in particular start Chewing the Scenery (sometimes literally) and spouting Purple Prose and Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness whenever they start praising their beloved master.Judith Deacon: Nathaniel, Nathaniel, Nathaniel Crozier, the very mention of his name is exquisite torture to me. He’s the one who burns in my heart and scorches my blood. For him I would do anything, undergo any torment. He is why I breathe, without him I am nothing. I worship that man, my darling Nathaniel, my beautiful bearded god.
- Evil Is Not a Toy: Something Crozier fails to grasp vis-à-vis Morgawrus.
- Evil Overlord: The Lord of the Frozen Wastes, "the evil power of the world." Nathaniel aspires to be this.
- Evil Redhead: Rowena is strawberry blonde and an Evil Sorceress.
- Evil Sorcerer: Crozier.
- Expy: The Lords of the Deep are essentially the Valar of the story.
- Extreme Doormat: With the exception of Meta and Rowena, all of the Brides are this to Crozier.
- The Fair Folk: The Aufwaders are a (mostly) more benign than usual example.
- Fate Worse than Death: Irl, who was punished by the Lords of the Deep for stealing their Moonkelp by being turned into a hideous mutant whose very movements cause him agony and who serves as their slave.
- Faux Affably Evil: Crozier to a tee.
- Future Me Scares Me: Ben when he sees his "evil destiny" in ‘’The Whitby Child’’.
- A God Am I: Future Ben has this attitude.
- God of Evil: There are two, the Morgawrus and the Lord of the Frozen Wastes. The first is a demonic sea dragon that lay waste to Atlantis and was defeated by the gods of the sea, the second is one of said gods but while his brothers operate by Blue-and-Orange Morality and are capable of the occasional Pet the Dog, he's truly malevolent, wanting to destroy them so that he can rule the seas alone.
- Goldfish Poop Gang: The Brides of Crozier are certainly dangerous but not as effective without Nathaniel and Rowena to lead them. Miss Boston hangs a lampshade on this, calling them inept cowards for their repeated, failed attempts to kill Ben and saying that Rowena was far better at being evil than them. They are not amused.
- Greater-Scope Villain: Nathaniel Crozier for ‘’A Warlock in Whitby’’, the Lord of the Frozen Wastes for the entire series.
- Hate Sink: Nathaniel Crozier, Silas Gull, Esau and Miriam Gower all qualify to varying degrees. Nathaniel’s a misogynistic, sadistic, badly dressed cult leader, Silas is a slimy and cowardly murderer, Esau is a Dirty Old Man, Ephebophile and rapist, Miriam is a deeply malicious, vindictive and envious woman who absolutely Would Hurt a Child and Danny Turner is the particularly vile local bully.
- Hairtrigger Temper: Crozier has this. Jennet to a lesser extent by virtue of being a hormonal teenager.
- Headturning Beauty: Meta in The Whitby Child.
- Heel–Face Turn: Susan O’Donnell in ‘’The Whitby Child’’ thwarting her fellow witches’ attempt to kill the ten-year-old Ben, resulting in her death.
- Hellhound: All of the Brides of Crozier can become this. It makes them symbolically and literally Crozier’s bitches, which is what he treats them like.
- Henpecked Husband: Mr. Gregson, a lazy, obese alcoholic with a venomous-tongued wife.
- Heroic BSoD: Jennet, who in the third book has PTSD as a result of Nathaniel in the second book.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Pear jumps in front of her mother when she tries to stab Jennet, dying as a result.
- Hijacked by Ganon: Crozier comes back in the climax of ‘’The Whitby Child’’.
- Hypnotic Eyes: Crozier has these, described as resembling shards of black glass.
- I Can Rule Alone: The Lord of the Frozen Wastes decides this.
- It's All About Me: Both Crozier and Meta. Miss Boston accuses Jennet of having this attitude in ‘’The Whitby Child’’ and she’s got a point, which causes Jennet to snap out of it and stop being so self-pitying.
- Jerkass Gods: The Deep Ones, particularly the Lord of the Frozen Wastes.
- Karmic Death: This might take a while.
- Crozier in both ‘’A Warlock in Whitby’’ and ‘’The Whitby Child’’. In the first, the God of Evil he’s released with the intent of controlling breaks free of his mind control, shrugs off all of his attempts at subduing him with contemptuous ease whilst talking down to him the way he has everyone else throughout the book, then freezes him with his ice breath. In the second, he’s brought back from the dead by the Lord of the Frozen Wastes but intends to betray him by releasing Morgawrus again, gaining control of him as he nearly did before and using him to kill the Lords of the Deep and rule the world, but the Lord of the Frozen Wastes anticipated him doing it and brought back his dead ex-wife as an Eldritch Abomination to kill him for his years of abuse.
- Then the Lord of the Frozen Wastes is destroyed by the combined powers of the two brothers he betrayed and tried to kill.
- Miriam Gower is about to drop Ben off the pier when she’s stopped by Sister Frances and in the ensuing struggle, she falls off instead. Made even more gratifying by what she said to Ben before trying to throw him off.
- Large Ham: It’s that kind of book series.
- Last of Their Kind: The small tribe of Aufwaders living in the caves of Whitby are the last of a proud and ancient species, now on the verge of extinction due to a curse from the gods which causes their women to die in childbirth, as a punishment for one of their kind conceiving a child with a human being.
- Lemony Narrator: Jarvis is this at times. "'One for the pot!' cried Miss Boston, unable to resist the unforgivable remark."
- Lord of the Ocean: The Lords of the Deep and Dark are three of these, but are also the gods of the world.
- Lovecraft Country: Whitby is this, being home to the last of the Aufwader tribe and the site of the Deep Ones’ final battle with Morgawrus, who is imprisoned beneath the cliffs.
- Lovecraft Lite: These books are as dark as Hell (or at least the ocean floor) but being aimed at children, good ultimately triumphs.
- The Magic Goes Away: At the end of the last book the Aufwaders leave Whitby to go to an island home the two remaining Lords of the Deep have prepared for them.
- Manipulative Bastard: Crozier again, although he’s absolutely put to shame by the Lord of the Frozen Wastes.
- McGuffin: The Moonkelp and the Staff of Hilda in the first book and the Guardians of Whitby in the second.
- Mugging the Monster: Mr. Gregson tries to give Crozier a hiding for calling him and his wife stupid, ignorant peasants, only for Crozier to send him into a coma.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Esau, regaining his sanity with his dying breath says "Nelda, forgive me" having raped her."
- Meta too after accidentally killing her daughter.
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: The Lords of the Deep and Dark, although not Gods of Evil are still prime Jerkass Gods with Blue-and-Orange Morality and their collective name doesn’t exactly make them sound any more approachable than they are. Played straight with the Lord of the Frozen Wastes, the only clear-cut evil member of the Triad and who has the most menacing sounding name. Also played straight with the Morgawrus.
- Narcissist: Meta is an example of the somantic kind.
- Near-Villain Victory: Happens three times, per book.
- Never Mess with Granny: Miss Boston is a stellar example of this, defeating two evil witches, a giant evil snake god and flipping off three Cthulhu expies. You do NOT want to mess with her adopted kids!
- The Nondescript: The Lord of the Roaring Waves doesn’t say or do much compared to his brothers.
- Our Werewolves Are Different: The Brides of Crozier have the ability to transform into ferocious black dogs.
- Prefers Going Barefoot: Pear, and to a lesser extent Rowena.
- Psychopathic Manchild: Crozier is prone to infantile fits of rage whenever defied.
- Purple Prose: It’s Robin Jarvis so this is to be expected both in the narration and the characters. Crozier and his Brides are particularly prone to this and being gods, it’s how the Lords of the Deep speak constantly.
- Real Men Love Jesus: A variation. Miss Boston is a witch who is a Christian.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Quite a few. Miss Boston gives a short one to Nathaniel in book two, a very satisfying one to the Lords of the Deep and a hilarious one to the Brides of Crozier in the third book but Jennet goes and tops it with hers to Meta. Rowena gives the entire Coven of the Black Sceptre one of these and it stings like Hell. Miss Boston gives one to Jennet in the same book but it’s more of a Dare to Be Badass than anything else, and it works.
- Sacrificial Lion: Prudence in ‘’The Whitby Witches’’, a a tough old lady who figures out that Rowena is more than she appears and dies for it.
- Sadist: All of the Brides of Crozier, but particularly Miriam. They get it from their boss.
- Scarpia Ultimatum: Esau tells Nelda that he will tell her the location of the amulet necessary to seal away Morgawrus once again on "one condition".
- Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: The descriptions are full of this and the characters often get into it. Crozier even basically hangs a lampshade on it, criticising Mrs. Gregson for using words like “nice”.Crozier: How about “tantalising”, “insatiable”? No, they’re too passionate for your pallid tastes aren’t they.
- She Knows Too Much: Prudence is murdered by Rowena for this reason.
- Smug Snake: Crozier is one of these, of the “thinks he’s a
Magnificent Bastard’’ variety. He’s very charismatic, highly intelligent and a hugely powerful sorcerer but nowhere near as powerful or intelligent as he thinks he is, and ultimately too vindictive, petty, misogynistic and arrogant to count. - The Sociopath: Crozier ‘’definitely’’ fits the bill as a fairly high-functioning one. You could certainly make a case for the ten-year-old Danny Turner as a budding low-functioning example, as he gives Henry Bowers a run for his money in terms of vileness.
- Take Over the World: The goal of the book’s three main villains, Nathaniel, the Morgawrus and the Lord of the Frozen Wastes. Downplayed in that as one of the Powers of the World™, the Lord of the Frozen Waste already does rule it but he wants his brothers out of the way so that he can rule it alone.
- Third-Person Person: Ben’s evil future self gives one of these during his Evil Gloating. “Be thankful that Laurenson is merciful.”
- Took a Level in Badass: Jennet. Jennet tells Meta where to stick it at the climax of ‘’The Whitby Child’’ and the usually very skittish and nervous Edith, after hearing of Danny Turner’s bullying of Ben, storms round to the Turners house to tell them everything their little yob of a son has been doing.
- Troubling Unchildlike Behaviour: Danny Turner shows a lot of this. It’s hinted that Crozier did to, as when Mr. Roper tells him “You're Insane!”, he answers that people have been telling him that ever since he was a child.”
- Undying Loyalty: Ben, Jennet and Miss Boston have this to each other, Ben and Nelda have this to one another and on the dark side, the Fish-Monkey has this to its master, the Lord of the Frozen Wastes.
- Voluntary Shapeshifting: The Brides of Crozier can turn into dogs.
- Villainous Breakdown: Crozier when he loses control of Morgawrus.
- Wicked Cultured: Crozier comes across as an intelligent gentleman… until the evil shows itself.
- Would Hurt a Child: Nathaniel and Rowena slaughtered so many infants in an African village they invaded that they lost count. The habit hasn't left them as they attempt to kill Ben and Jennet repeatedly. In the last book, the Lord of the Frozen Wastes tasks the Brides of Crozier with killing Ben, a task they pursue with glee, though fortunately no success.
- World of Ham: It’s Robin Jarvis so this is to be expected. Heck, even the narration’s hammy at times.
- Xanatos Gambit: The Lord of the Frozen Wastes pulls one of these on the Coven of the Black Sceptre. He rewards them for (he thinks) killing Ben by bringing Crozier back from the dead, but brings Rowena back to kill him.
- You Monster!: Miss Boston to both Judith Deacon (“You poisoned and beat her! What sort of animal are you?”) and Nathaniel (“You revolting creature.”)
- You're Insane!: Mr. Roper to Nathaniel. He answers that people have been telling him that his whole life.
- Ben tells Miriam Gower the same thing but she answers "Oh I am, but it is a madness born of love and devotion."
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Crozier to the Fish-Monkey. It comes back to bite him on the arse. Hard.
