History Literature / RachelGriffin

** Ambrose Griffin is shown to have this when he learns that Rachel has been involve [[spoiler: The Raven]]--who for all he knows is an extremely dangerous being of enormous power.

* AmnesiacDissonance: People losing their memories is a large part of the series as a whole. Rachel herself has to deal with a similar conition in book 4.

* VillainousVidowsPeak: Dr. Mordeau.

* WeaksauceWeakness: Poppy seeds. [[spoiler: How to stop hoards of animated skeletons -- just sprinkle a few in their path. (Note: Poppy seeds stopping the undead is a trope from Eastern European folk tales.)]]

** TheKirk: Nastasia
** TheSpock: Rachel

* BigGood: Vladimir von Dread appears to be.

* FamedInStory: Sigfried Smith is an in-universe celebrity for having killed a dragon and taken its hoard. He also saved Roanoke campus from a flying, flaming skunk.

* TheLadysFavor

* {{Lunacy}}: Moonlight is necessary for degossamerization-- making certain spells permanent.

* HeIsNotMyBoyfriend: Gaius. She had, after all, just met him and was rather younger at an age where a few years is significant.

* OurGhostsAreDifferent: Most seemed to bound by UnfinishedBusiness, but a wide variety of it, and they also range from could pass for human were it not for the glow and the translucency, to "a collection of mist and dried leaves blowing in the shape of a woman". It appears that the more aware you are that you are dead, and the more heroic your motive to be a ghost, the more human

* UnfinishedBusiness: Ghosts seemly mostly bound by this.

* DuetoTheDead: Halloween is filled with death-honoring rituals. Also, Gaius tells a ghost, [[spoiler:one of the musicians of the Titanic,]] about the momument raised in their honor, and he is pleased and honored by it.

* ChekovsGun: Rachel’s new wand, inherited from her grandmother, contains three charges of the Eternal Flame. One of them gets used in the finale.

** Vladimir Von Dread is based on Victor Von Doom
** Gaius Valiant was based on Gaius Baltar.
** Zoe Forrest was based on Ramona Flowers.
** Valerie Hunt(a.k.a Valerie Foxx in the older versions) was Veronica Mars.
** Salome Iscariot was Lilly Kane.
** William Locke was William Bell from Fringe.
** The P.E. teacher Roland Chanson was Clark Kent.
** The Romanovs were the distant descendants of Corwin of Amber.
** Agent James Darling is based on grown up Harry Potter...if Harry had had the personality of James Potter, Harry's father.
** Scarlett Mallory MacDannan was originally Hermione. (Her husband, Finn MacDannan, was a character from another story made up by the same authoress. There is no equivalent to Ron in the story.)
** The List goes on and on.

** Despite knowing that she will die if another person finds out her identity, [[spoiler: Ilondria]] meets with and helps Zoe, which contributes to her death several chapters later.

* {{Lunacy}}: Moonlight is necessary for degossamerization-- making certain spells permanent .

** Siegfried Smith, the famous orphan who is brand-new to the magical world, was originally based on the author's husband (John C. Wright)'s roleplaying character in the game--not on Harry Potter, as previously suggested here. Siggy is an orphan because the player min/maxed the character.
** Rachel herself is a native of her world. She was created for the original game because the authoress wanted to play a character who could get into Ravenclaw, however, the moderator put her in Griffindor anyway.

* {{Expy}}: According to [[WordOfGod the author]], the series is based on a MassiveMultiplayerCrossover role-playing game created and played by her family, and the finished story contains non-public domain characters with the "serial-numbers filed off." Hints are given by the princess's visions. Exploration of those hints and other clues currently available (as of book 2) can be found in WMG/RachelGriffin.

* WeaksauceWeakness: Poppy seeds. [[spoiler: How to stop hoards of animated skeletons -- just sprinkle a few in their path.]] (Note: Poppy seeds stopping the undead is a trope from Eastern European folk tales.)

* WeaksauceWeakness: Poppy seeds. [[spoiler: How to stop hoards of animated skeletons -- just sprinkle a few in their path.]]

* [[PoweredByAForsakenChild Powered By A Beloved Child]]: one spell needs human sacrifice -- and not only that, those offering the human must love this person enough for the spell to work. It ''has'' been successfully cast.

* ParentalFavoritism: The Griffins. Rachel was her grandfather's favorite, older sister Sandra her father's.

* NotNowKiddo: Sterling example: Rachel [[spoiler: knows the keyword to bind Azrael, the demon possessing Mortimer Egg.]] When she tries to tell her sister Laurel this, Laurel turns around and jinxes her voice so Rachel can't distract her from the fight.

* MagicVersusScience: they conflict. Unusally, research is going on to overcome the limitation.

* MagicMusic: Nastasia uses a violin, Sigfried a trumpet. Another character uses bagpipes.

* IntrepidReporter: Valerie Foxx, Fearless Girl Reporter!

*** Agent James Darling is based on grown up Harry Potter...if Harry had had the personality of James Potter, Harry's father.

*** Agent James Darling is based on grown up Harry Potter...if James Potter, Harry's father, had been the Chosen One.

** [[TheCassandra Xandra]] Harris, also known as "Flops Over Dead Chick" is acerbically happy to see this happening to someone else, for once.

** Siegfried Smith, the famous orphan who is brand-new to the magical world, was originally based on Harry Potter.
** Rachel herself, while a native of her world, was created for the original game because the authoress wanted a player character based on Hermione, according to WordOfGod.

* {{Animorphism}}: Zoe's uncle was turned into a sea turtle once; Gaius gets turned into a shee--a ram, and [[spoiler: Kenneth Hunt was turned into a goose.]]

* BadDreams: Frejya has nightmares after [[spoiler:her brothers' execution]].

* WhipItGood: A magical whip is used offensively, with deadly results.