History Literature / CastlePerilous

* StatusQuoIsGod: Despite the fact that with the reinstitution of the transformation spell, Castle Perilous is more stable and reasonable than it has been in years, and that between Incarnadine, Trent, Sheila, and Jeremy the Aspects become much more manageable and Earth is made accessible again after years of wandering, something still always manages to happen to make the castle unsafe and cause the characters to go haring off into dangerous, unstable Aspects. As proof Administrivia/TropesAreNotBad, this is half the fun of the series!

* HasAType: Both Trent and Isis seem to be strongly attracted to redheads, based on the comments they make regarding Sheila and Jeremy. Trent ends up marrying Sheia, while Isis indulges in endless sexual teasing and naughty wordplay with Jeremy as her [[DoubleEntendre "user"]].

* ''[[TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers Bride of the Castle]]''

** [[SerialEscalation Incarnadine]]. At various times he is actually accused of godhood, or responds to the question by tongue-in-cheekly claiming to be a demiurge, and he certainly is, to use Osmirik's in-story {{Understatement}}, "something of a magician". In fact not only is he capable of things no one else is (creating and building [[{{Magitek}} computers by magic]], creating technology with magic that lasts longer than anyone else's, understanding and applying numerous arcane systems, making three-dimensional spell components (and drawing complex two-dimensional ones by hand with perfectly accurate lines and angles without aid of draftsman's tools), memorizing complex spells after only reading them once, and so on), but he is usually the only one who fully understands what is going on and can save TheMultiverse. The end result is that whenever a crisis ensues, he must inevitably be [[DeusExitMachina absent]], [[DramaPreservingHandicap trapped]], or deliberately removed from the so that there can be any kind of narrative tension. Sometimes there is more than one issue at stake, so that he can handle the one on TheMultiverse level while the other characters deal with the more "mundane" problems.

* HeroesWantRedheads: Or at least, Trent and Isis do.

* ExpendableAlternateUniverse: The infinite number of variants of Earth found for Max by Jeremy's EvilTwin explores this in many permutations--some are ForWantOfANail where one simple thing having changed (his boss Herb Fenton having died in a car accident, him going into partnership with different men, whether or not he proposed to his beloved Andrea) changed his entire life; at the same time InSpiteOfANail the rest of the world is always identical save small things such as who the president is, and Max's overall personality and past are the same, as is everyone's in his life. Still others are complete {{Alternate Universe}}s with versions of himself (and Jeremy) from the far past or the future. As soon as Max discovers the flaw in a particular universe, he immediately wants out and dismisses it, its denizens, and his alternate self from there as having any value. In the end, though, it turns out that no matter how many variants he finds, he can never find the original again--and in every one, whether due to his choice in partners, a ruined marriage with Andrea, or financial hardships with his company, [[ThisLoserIsYou Max will never, ever be able to find true happiness or the life that he wants]]. The trope is also played with (and [[GallowsHumor somewhat]] PlayedForLaughs) in that all those alternate selves he dismissed as having any value [[BrickJoke show up at once at the end]], clamoring for the right to have a world of their own to live in, to the point the alternate Jeremys have an auction where they can bid on the "best" world.

* MindOverMatter: Jacoby's power. Which leads to...

* LieBackAndThinkOfEngland: What Isis thought she was going to have to do as payment to the Gooch brothers (though it would be Jeremy here she'd be thinking of). Luckily this was not the case.

* ExcitedShowTitle: ''Castle War!''

* RichIdiotWithNoDayJob: Thanks to the fact he spends most of his time moonlighting in other dimensions (including a stint as a fantasy writer here on Earth), Incarnadine often comes across as this. Has been called on it a number of times, by both Ferne and his enemy plotters, but when he does pay attention and act like a king, it is always awesome and badass. And he does in fact directly and decisively rule in many of the Aspects he lives in, though at least once he abrogates his huge load of responsibilities to go jogging while letting his clone run things...which does prove to be a mistake.

* ItWasHisSled / LateArrivalSpoiler: The fact that Castle Perilous is actually the [[ForcedTransformation transmogrified]] demon, Ramthonodox, is referenced casually, albeit indirectly, InUniverse in several books after the first and stated outright in Osmirik's first preface to ''Castle Murders'' and therefore treated as something the reader should know already, despite being a mystery and [[TheReveal the big reveal]] of the first book. For anyone who missed the first book or read them out of order, however...

* EverythingsBetterWithDinosaurs: The golfing Aspect, just for contrast (and fun and adventure, occasionally).

* AnAxeToGrind: Snowclaw's weapon of choice.

** The armorer, who seems to take great pleasure in taking as long as possible to describe every type of weapon he possesses, at least until Snowclaw [[AnAxeToGrind simplifies things]]--although in his defense Gene's newbie status did make his requests quite vague.

* BalefulPolymorph: On a larger, cosmic scale: the demon Ramthonodox was transformed into Castle Perilous by Ervoldt, Incarnadine's ancestor, centuries ago.

* ItWasHisSled / LateArrivalSpoiler: The fact that Castle Perilous is actually the [[BalefulPolymorph transmogrified]] demon, Ramthonodox, is referenced casually, albeit indirectly, InUniverse in several books after the first and stated outright in Osmirik's first preface to ''Castle Murders'' and therefore treated as something the reader should know already, despite being a mystery and [[TheReveal the big reveal]] of the first book. For anyone who missed the first book or read them out of order, however...

** Despite all of his magical (and mundane) defenses, Incarnadine can't stop Vorn's armies from winning their siege, despite all of his research and study (and Osmirik's) they can't find any way to stop Melydia's spellwork, and despite the BigDamnHeroes moment wherein the main characters take out all of her guards (zombies and duplicates included) and Linda ''almost'' gets her hands on Melydia, the castle still gets changed back into Ramthonodox. Partly this is due to the fact {{prophec|iesAreAlwaysRight}}y [[YouCantFightFate said it would happen]], but it's also because Incarnadine ends up letting it happen as part of a BatmanGambit--on the one hand, Ramthonodox's release eliminated the besieging armies, drained Melydia of her powers, and made her sane again so she could help him re-cast the BalefulPolymorph; on the other hand, he allowed it to come to pass because he knew of [[MacGuffin the broken shard of the Brain]] and how [[SpannerInTheWorks this loss would weaken the demon]] and allow him to regain control of it again.

** Sheila. She can conjure portals. Granted, there is a great deal of HowDoIShotWeb at first, but once she figures it out, there is no more danger of characters being trapped anywhere, the wandering portal to Earth can be easily located and tied down, and characters can travel wherever and whenever they want. Luckily the author manages to consistently have her get [[PlotInducedStupidity cut off from the others]], [[DramaPreservingHandicap her magic is blocked]], or she's simply [[DeusExitMachina not available]].
** [[SerialEscalation Incarnadine]]. At various times he is actually accused of godhood, or responds to the question by tongue-in-cheekly claiming to be a demiurge, and he certainly is, to use Osmirik's in-story {{Understatement}}, "something of a magician". In fact not only is he capable of things no one else is (creating and building [[{{Magitek}} computers by magic]], creating technology with magic that lasts longer than anyone else's, understanding and applying numerous arcane systems, making three-dimensional spell components (and drawing complex two-dimensional ones by hand with perfectly accurate lines and angles without aid of draftsman's tools), memorizing complex spells after only reading them once, and so on), but he is usually the only one who fully understands what is going on and can save TheMultiverse. The end result is that whenever a crisis ensues, he must inevitably be [[DeusExitMachina absent]], [[DramaPreservingHandicap trapped]], or [[PlotInducedStupidity deliberately removed from the castle]] so that there can be any kind of narrative tension. Sometimes there is more than one issue at stake, so that he can handle the one on TheMultiverse level while the other characters deal with the more "mundane" problems.

* AllMythsAreTrue: The Hosts of Hell possibly inspired Earth's concept of DemonLordsAndArchdevils. Castle Perilous itself is reminiscent of or even a TropeNamer for a place/tale in [[Myth/ArthurianLegend Arthurian Canon]]. Incarnadine theorizes to Trent that their father, who had a strong interest in Earth and Western European culture especially and gave them all British names, was Merlin. (And his name, as revealed in ''Castle Dreams'', was [[Theatre/{{Macbeth}} Cawdor]].) Thanks to stories of Castle Perilous told in Kwip's world, and legends of a "Castle of the Gods" in Vaya's, this may be true for the myths of ''[[UpToEleven all]]'' Aspects.

* BigScrewedUpFamily: While not all the suspects are related, in every other respect the tangled web of relationships, backstabbing, cutthroat dealings, adultery, and other criminal acts amongst those gathered at Hawkingsmere in ''Bride of the Castle'' is otherwise this trope taken UpToEleven.