History Literature / RangersApprentice

* ArtisticLicenseMartialArts: In general, averted, as the author is pretty good about showing their work. However, played straight in Book 7 when it's mentioned that Halt "always watched an enemy's eyes." As any trained combatant will know, this tells you little to nothing in combat situations. People don't attack with their eyeballs (well, [[EyeBeams not in this universe, anyway]]).

-->"As Horace passed Selethen, the two warriors eyed each other and like recognized like. Selethen saw the broad shoulders, the tapered hips, and the the easy balanced stride. A long straight sword hung at the Araluen's belt. This one I understand, thought Selethen. He would make a dangerous enemy. At the same time, Horace was taking in the slim build, the athletic movement, and the long curved sword that hung at Selethen's side. This one would be a bit of a handful, he thought.\\

* AdultFear: The Storyman would fully embody this trope, and he is even more terrifying for the children.

* ArtisticLicenseMartialArts: In general, averted, as the author is pretty good about showing their work. However, played straight in Book 7 when it's mentioned that Halt "always watched an enemy's eyes." As any trained combatant will know, this tells you little to nothing in combat situations. People don't attack with their eyeballs (well, [[EyeBeams not in this universe, anyway]].

* BlackAndWhiteMorality: The Rangers (and Araluens) are good, while their enemies are unambiguously bad. However, this is more the case in earlier books--the [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness first couple]] were full-on black-and-white, mindless evil army led by the dark lord and all, while the later books have shades of grey. It gets a bit strange when Halt shamelessly forges legal documents or when Will sells a troublemaking villager into slavery but the reader is obviously supposed to be okay with their actions.

* FakeKing: Interestingly inverted. When Halt dresses up as the king of Clonmel, he pretends to be Ferris, but [[spoiler:Ferris himself is pretending to be the rightful king--a title which belongs to Halt; which means that Halt pretends to be someone who pretends to be him]][[note]]An explanation, then. Halt and Ferris are twins, but Halt was born several minutes earlier, making him the firstborn. Ferris hated this about him and attempted to have him killed in a series of "accidents". Halt quickly caught on, and, sick of his brother's attempts on his life and never having really been all that interested in the throne in the first place, basically said, "You want the crown so bad? Here, take it!", and moved out of Hibernia[[/note]].

%% * 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.

%%* NoOntologicalInertia

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: Some complain about the Ranger's ImprobableAimingSkills...but there's a reason [[TalentedButTrained they practice pretty much ''every single day'' for five years]] before they even graduate, and then continue practicing afterwards.

* TrainingThePeacefulVillagers: The Kikori in Book 10.

* AlwaysIdenticalTwins: [[spoiler:Halt and Ferris]]. Of course, the latter is the EvilTwin. It should also be noted that while they were presumably identical as boys, it is noted that their differing life experiences have made them appear quite different at first glance.

* AnnoyingArrows: Averted--these arrows are plenty lethal. Individual Rangers do great deals of damage, a small group of rangers are a deadly force onto themselves, and even relatively small groups of archers consistently have major impacts on the outcome of battles.

* AttackAttackAttack: Skandian battle tactics generally boil down to this.

* BerserkButton: Plenty

* {{The Berserker}}s: Skandians.

* BlackAndWhiteMorality: The Rangers (and Araluens) are good, while their enemies are unambiguously bad. However, this is more the case in earlier books--the [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness first couple]] were full-on black-and-white, mindless evil army lead by the dark lord and all, while the later books have shades of grey. It gets a bit strange when Halt shamelessly forges legal documents or when Will sells a troublemaking villager into slavery but the reader is obviously supposed to be okay with their actions.

* ChekhovsGun: Evanlyn's/Princess Cassandra's new belt and necklace in Book Seven.

-->"There were quite a few young ladies of the kingdom who felt it [a scar on his cheek] enhanced his appearance, rather than the opposite."

-->"As Horace passed Selethen, the two warriors eyed each other and like recognized like. Selethen saw the broad shoulders, the tapered hips, and the the easy balanced stride. A long straight sword hung at the Araulen's belt. This one I understand, thought Selethen. He would make a dangerous enemy. At the same time, Horace was taking in the slim build, the athletic movement, and the long curved sword that hung at Selethen's side. This one would be a bit of a handful, he thought.\\

* AFateWorseThanDeath: [[spoiler:Yusal]], who is reduced to a drooling idiot due to [[spoiler:Evanlyn's]] shot.

Then he learns the BigBad is about to invade his country has sent killer animal monsters after his beloved mentor Halt, and would like to kill every single Ranger (and Ranger apprentice) while he's at it. Things go downhill for Will from there.

* HypnotizeThePrincess: Happens to Alyss in Book Five and Book Six.

* TeamDad : Halt, to an incredible degree.

** In Book 1, Will tries to shoot a longbow without wearing an armguard, and [[RealityEnsues gets hurt]]. This comes up again when he's teaching [[spoiler: Maddie]], who makes fun of him for it.

* HornsOfBarbarism: The Skandians habitually wear horned helmets, which results in a RealityEnsues moment when one of the main characters uses the horns on a Skandian's helmet to grab the helm and smash it back down on his opponent's head.

* InstantWakingSkills: The Rangers do this, but [[RealityEnsues it is highly stressed that they aren't at full "alertness" yet]].

* RealityEnsues: Some complain about the Ranger's ImprobableAimingSkills...but there's a reason [[TalentedButTrained they practice pretty much ''every single day'' for five years]] before they even graduate, and then continue practicing afterwards.
** Going on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge is a heck of a lot harder when you don't know where your target is. Also, if you have a duty, your boss is not going to let you put that aside and pursue your personal vendetta.
** As TeachMeHowToFight notes below, wanting to help others defend their country is great. But you're not going to pick up archery skills just by wanting to, as Will himself discovered earlier in the book.
** Once you get used to a certain kind of weapon, you have to remember ''not'' to rely solely on muscle memory when using a new one, as Will discovers in Book 5.
** The downside of falling in love with an ActionHero[=/=]ActionGirl is that you'll have to constantly worry about them being in danger. [[AnAesop It's worth it, though]].

* TeachMeHowToFight: Cassandra asks Will to teach her how to shoot. [[RealityEnsues He tells her that he could-if they had several months.]]

** The reason slavery is abolished in Skandia is that "You need the slaves to fight for you if you're going to have any chance of defending against the massive Temujai army. [[RealityEnsues They're not going to fight for you unless you give them what they want: their freedom."]]

* ''The Ruins of Gorlan''
* ''The Burning Bridge''
* ''The Icebound Land''
* ''Oakleaf Bearers'' (''The Battle for Skandia'' in the US)
* ''The Sorcerer of the North''
* ''The Siege of Macindaw''
* ''Erak's Ransom'' (takes place in the TimeSkip between books four and five)
* ''The Kings of Clonmel''
* ''Halt's Peril''
* ''The Emperor of Nihon-Ja''
* ''The Lost Stories''
* ''The Royal Ranger''

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar:
** In the first book, it's mentioned that Will released two rabbits in the middle of a court session. Specifically, one male and one female. ''In spring''.
** In the third book, Horace sees a group of girls in short skirts. Halt tells him they're couriers, but they are ''clearly'' not. This is even [[BrickJoke brought up again]] in book eight.

* ''The Royal Ranger 4: The Missing Prince

*** TheSixthRanger: Gilan ([[Pun almost literally]]).

** There seems to be some magic, but ''very'' little of it is mentioned. Averted by [[BigBad Morgarath]] and his mind control over the Wargal hordes in the first book, though other characters view it as nothing more than larg-scale mesmerism, while the barrow-wight Will met is dismissed as JustADream.

** Every single time an apprentice is given a horse, they immediately try and mount it without waiting for the passphrase, then get bucked off. [[PuncuatedForEmphasis Every. Single. Time.]]

* ArtisticLicenseMartialArts: In general, averted, as the author is pretty good about showing their work. However, played straight in Book 7 when it's mentioned that Halt "always watched an enemy's eyes." As any trained combatant will know, this tells you little to nothing in combat situations. People don't attack with their eyeballs.

* BowAndSwordInAccord: Gilan. He's the only Ranger trained in swordsmanship. This is {{Justified}} because most Rangers don't have time to study other weapons as well.

** Arald calls back to Cassandra's capture in Book 7.

* GRatedDrug: Warmweed. Seriously. It's very bad for you.
** Warmweed is a marijuana-like substance that fills your body with the sensation of warmth. Since it's only known to grow in Skandia, where it's winter pretty much all year round and the slaves there tend not to have much in the way of keeping warm, it is ''very'' easy to get addicted to. Once it happens, you gradually lose your sense of who you were, forget those closest to you, focus only on the drug, etc., until you become an EmptyShell.

* MentorOccupationalHazard: Subverted. Halt survives the whole series.

** Also subverted in ''Royal Ranger'': [[spoiler:Madelyn is completely incapacitated by a javelin in her thigh, even though it misses anything important]] Indeed, the wound is stated to still occasionally trouble her even years later.

* ParentalSubstitute: Halt for Will.

* PuppetKing: Ferris.

* TimeSkip: Two or three, depening on how one counts:

* TrainingThePeacefulVillagers: Kikori in Book 10.

* AFateWorseThanDeath: [[spoiler:Yosal]], who is reduced to a drooling idiot due to [[spoiler:Evanlyn's]] shot.
* FinalSolution: The Temujai, who are AbsoluteXenophobe and murder everyone on captured territories or anyone taken prisoner.

* GreyAndGrayMorality: Most of the rangers, at least the ones mentioned in the books. Will begins to show a bit of this trope, considering he gives a man into slavery in Skandia. Granted, [[KickTheSonOfABitch the man nearly disemboweled one of his dogs and is suspected for a large string of murders]].

* IHaveNoSon: Madelyn is disinherited in '' Royal Ranger''.

* KnightInShiningArmor: Horace.

* MoralDissonance: In Book One, Halt tells Will "If you had lied [about stealing some cakes from the castle kitchens], you never would have become my apprentice." This despite Halt doing several worse things over the course of the series, such as having forged copies of several world leaders' personal seals, including that of his own king. What makes lying about stealing the cakes so bad? [[FridgeBrilliance If Will had lied, he would have been doing so to avoid taking responsibility for his actions, making him no better than a petty thief. Halt, meanwhile, had performed his deeds to better serve his country]]. Deceit isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it can be if you're doing it for selfish reasons.

* BadassNormal: The Rangers and knights are highly skilled warriors with no magical powers whatsoever, but still are very, ''very'' dangerous.

* EverythingsBetterWithPrincesses: A [[FallenPrincess fallen one]], at that.
** Cassandra also becomes a RebelliousPrincess.
** Madelyn, daughter of Princess Regent Cassandra and the first female Ranger.

* CombatPragmatist: Will. Most of the Rangers, actually, considering the great majority of them carry little more than a bow and quiver, saxe knife, and throwing knife. This is contrasted with the [[HonorBeforeReason chivalry of the knights.]]
** Horace grows into this a little as he matures, though he still prefers to win fights honourably if he can.

* HeelFaceTurn: Erak, and, with him, most of the Skandians.

* TheExile: Happens to Halt. He invokes it on purpose so he can go and search for Will, who was captured by the Skandians.
** It's later revealed in Book 8 that [[spoiler: he exiled himself from home after his brother tried to kill him one too many times]].

* BadassTeacher: Almost every mentor in the book, including Mr. Chubb, the cook.

** [[GratuitousFrench Gallic]].
** [[GratuitousJapanese Nihon-Jan]].