History Literature / TheLayOfPaulTwister

** Paul goes by several aliases in different parts of the kingdom, where he has apparently established actual identities for each of them. The names he picks tend to be the secret identities of superheroes, such as [[Franchise/{{Superman}} Clark Kent]] and [[Franchise/SpiderMan Peter Parker]], in the hopes of [[SomethingOnlyTheyWouldSay stealthily alerting other people from "back home" that they're not alone]] and trying to get them to seek him out. (It actually worked at one point, though it's implied that the person seeking him out has been around a long time, and so he's not the first person from Earth to be stranded there.) At one point in the narration, he remarks that "Paul's not my real name," which apparently he doesn't tell anyone, because [[IKnowYourTrueName real names have power]] and he's mostly in the business of screwing over powerful magic-users.

** Paul's alter-egos: [[ComicBook/SpiderMan Peter Parker]], [[Franchise/{{Superman}} Clark Kent]], [[ComicBook/IronMan Anthony Stark]] (no one goes by "Tony" where he is,) [[Franchise/{{Batman}} Wayne Bruce]] (apparently "Bruce" is not a first name), [[Franchise/{{Zorro}} Diego de la Vega]], and [[Myth/RobinHood Robin Locksley]] are mentioned.

** Paul first arrived on the magical world while he was just driving to the store. Suddenly he was somewhere else entirely, [[Film/BackToTheFuture "And I wasn't even going 88 miles per hour!"]] He even takes the name Marty [=McFly=] as his first pseudonym.

* LoveTriangle: A [[TriangRelations class 5]] is implied in the epilogue to be in Paul's future.
--> [[spoiler: '''Ryell''']]: You have a woman you love, a woman who loves you... It is a shame they are not the same woman, true, but all in all you have a life most would envy.
--> '''Paul''': Sarah doesn't love me; she hardly knows me.
--> [[spoiler: '''Ryell''']]: She will.

* OurDragonsAreDifferent: The great golden dragon Ryell serves as a [[GreaterScopeVillain distant, yet immensely powerful antagonist]] throughout the story. Like any self-respecting fantasy dragon, she hoards gold and other valuables. She has people who act as her agents in the world, who [[UncannyValley don't quite look right.]] According to Ken'tu Kel, they aren't born at all, but [[BizarreAlienBiology grown like plants from a mixture of the dragon's tears and her own shed scales.]] She has "the power of a dragon's will," which is explicitly ''not magic'' but is able to alter reality in magic-like ways, and she's powerful enough that even the angels and the most powerful of the Circle of Magi fear her wrath.

* OurAngelsAreDifferent: Paul first meets Aylwyn in the first chapter. She looks like a standard WingedHumanoid, but she's able to [[BreakingTheBonds break iron chains,]] summon up a flaming sword out of nowhere, and teleport away seemingly at will. [[HolyHalo Her body shines,]] how brightly seems to depend on [[PowerGlows how much she's using her power.]] She's later described as being [[AmazonianBeauty a few inches above six feet and incredibly beautiful.]] She's noticeably less snarky than [[WorldOfSnark most of the other characters]], and she has some unspecified healing powers. She works as a Celestial Paladin, which is apparently more of a cop or agent of some sort than the D&D idea of paladin-as-holy-knight, though she does have a [[CoolHorse Celestial horse]]. (Who does ''not'' have {{Pegasus}}-wings, much to Paul's surprise.) Paul thinks she's the most beautiful woman she's ever met, though he tries hard to keep his lust for her from showing, because he knows they really aren't very compatible, personality-wise, what with her being a LawfulGood paladin and him being a magic-breaking thief-for-hire.

---> I scowled at him. "You want to turn me into [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments some sort of rogue?]] To use my power to steal something?"

** When Paul asks Gerald if he'll hang on to an ArtifactOfDoom that he's unwittingly acquired during the course of his adventures, he thinks to himself, [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings "Hey Galadriel, you mind]] [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments hanging onto this ring of mine for a while?"]] Gerald doesn't want to, of course.

%%ZCE* BiggerBad: Ryell, the great golden dragon

* OurDragonsAreDifferent: The great golden dragon Ryell serves as a [[BiggerBad distant, yet immensely powerful antagonist]] throughout the story. Like any self-respecting fantasy dragon, she hoards gold and other valuables. She has people who act as her agents in the world, who [[UncannyValley don't quite look right.]] According to Ken'tu Kel, they aren't born at all, but [[BizarreAlienBiology grown like plants from a mixture of the dragon's tears and her own shed scales.]] She has "the power of a dragon's will," which is explicitly ''not magic'' but is able to alter reality in magic-like ways, and she's powerful enough that even the angels and the most powerful of the Circle of Magi fear her wrath.

---> '''Paul:''' ''(Narrating)'' You know how it goes. [[WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}} Gotta eat to live, gotta steal to eat, tell ya all about it when I got the time...]]

---> I was completely exhausted by the time I arrived. Part of me didn't care that I felt almost dead. Part of me just wanted to [[Film/ThePrincessBride find a sword, a cloak and a wheelbarrow and go attack the tower,]] do anything, whatever it took, to stop... whatever it was [[spoiler: Ken'tu Kel]] was trying to do.

** In the first chapter, the reader's first solid indication that Paul is a guy from modern-day Earth, TrappedInAnotherWorld, (at least if the reader didn't notice the TagLine at the top of the site,) is when he [[Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack quotes Darth Vader,]] because it makes him sound badass even though [[LampshadeHanging he realizes no one around here is going to get the reference.]]
** Towards the end, when Aylwyn is moving in on the tower where the BigBad is preparing his ritual from a westerly direction, Paul decides to cause a diversion from the opposite direction and "make the best dang [[UsefulNotes/TheThirtySixStratagems “clamor in the east”]] I could" by [[spoiler: zooming around in his car blaring bagpipe music at maximum volume.]]

Only one guy knows about all this, much to his chagrin. You see, he's from Earth. Just an [[OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent average college kid]] from {{UsefulNotes/Seattle}}, when one day, for some utterly inexplicable reason, he found himself instantly transported to the magical world. With no idea how he got there, no way to get back, none of the resources or basic technological infrastructure he needs to [[FishOutOfTemporalWater have a comfortable life]] in a StandardFantasySetting, and precious little in the way of relevant skills, he turns to the only two assets he has available: [[GuileHero his wits]], and [[AntiMagic the Twist]], a mysterious ability that allows him to break magic by touch.

* AmazonianBeauty: Paul describes Aylwyn this way.

** CoolHorse: [[{{Irony}} Much to Paul's chagrin,]] right after he narrates up a big rant about how silly and unrealistic the AutomatonHorses trope is, Aylwyn introduces him to her celestial horse, Wyntaf, who he admits looks like she could probably hold her own against a car. Although even Wyntaf has limits.

* BiggerBad: Ryell, the great golden dragon

* ConsummateLiar: Paul ''tries'' to be this. Some times it works better than others.

* GeniusBruiser: Aylwyn is easily the strongest, toughest character in the story physically, but she also exhibits [[{{Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick}} Roy-grade]] intelligence and deductive reasoning skills. She's a bit surprised by Paul's repeated surprise when she manages to figure out something that seems obvious to her, such as that Paul is from another world or [[spoiler: that the driver's seat in a car is special and only Paul would be able to sit there.]]
* HalfHumanHybrids: Sarah is an interesting [[{{IncrediblyLamePun}} twist]] on this trope: she's ''half-human.'' (What the other half is changes from day to day.)

** Paul goes by several aliases in different parts of the kingdom, where he has apparently established actual identities for each of them. The names he picks tend to be the secret identities of superheroes, such as [[{{Superman}} Clark Kent]] and [[Franchise/SpiderMan Peter Parker]], in the hopes of [[SomethingOnlyTheyWouldSay stealthily alerting other people from "back home" that they're not alone]] and trying to get them to seek him out. (It actually worked at one point, though it's implied that the person seeking him out has been around a long time, and so he's not the first person from Earth to be stranded there.) At one point in the narration, he remarks that "Paul's not my real name," which apparently he doesn't tell anyone, because [[IKnowYourTrueName real names have power]] and he's mostly in the business of screwing over powerful magic-users.

* {{UsefulNotes/Scotland}}: Paul describes Scotland thus:
--> The Scots are famous for four things: [[HaggisIsHorrible a sausage called 'haggis' that is so disgusting that its very name is proverbial for 'inedible food' throughout the rest of the world,]] [[EverythingsLouderWithBagpipes a bagpipe whose wail is so harsh]] [[LoudOfWar it has been used as a weapon of war,]] [[MemeticBadass warriors so strong that they invented a sporting competition to see who could throw a tree trunk the farthest,]] [[{{Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries}} and engineers so brilliant that they're referred to as 'miracle workers' by their comrades.]]
* {{UsefulNotes/Seattle}}: Where Paul is originally from.
* SelfMadeMyth: See ButHeSoundsHandsome, above.

** Paul's alter-egos: [[ComicBook/SpiderMan Peter Parker]], [[Franchise/{{Superman}} Clark Kent]], [[ComicBook/IronMan Anthony Stark]] (no one goes by "Tony" where he is,) [[Franchise/{{Batman}} Wayne Bruce]] (apparently "Bruce" is not a first name), [[{{Franchise/Zorro}} Diego de la Vega]], and [[RobinHood Robin Locksley]] are mentioned.
** Likewise, Patrick Hill mentions his friend April, who he believes is from the same place as Paul. When he tells Paul that her name is [[TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles April O'Neil,]] it takes a moment for him to get the reference, because it was a bit before his time. (It's implied that she's been there a lot longer than he has, and was probably taken from Earth sometime during TheNineties. It also didn't help that the translation spell screwed up the rest of the reference, saying she wanted to be rescued by "The angel Michael")

--> '''Paul:''' ''(Narrating)'' You know how it goes. [[WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}} Gotta eat to live, gotta steal to eat, tell ya all about it when I got the time...]]

--> I was completely exhausted by the time I arrived. Part of me didn't care that I felt almost dead. Part of me just wanted to [[Film/ThePrincessBride find a sword, a cloak and a wheelbarrow and go attack the tower,]] do anything, whatever it took, to stop... whatever it was [[spoiler: Ken'tu Kel]] was trying to do.
** At one point Paul needs a fake coded message to try to get in to see somebody, and he uses a couple of lines from a Literature/{{Dragonlance}} novel.

* TheChessmaster: Fiona Khal sees herself as one, though she has an interesting take on it:
--> "And now you want me to work for you, against [the dragon who had hired Paul to steal from her]?" I asked, trying not to look too bemused. "It's a strange game, where Black and White both move the same pawn!"
--> She laughed. "I've always lamented the lack of mercenaries on the chessboard. It would bring whole new levels of strategy to the game!"
* TheMagicGoesAway: Part of the backstory. The magical world was separated from Earth, long enough ago that Earth has become mythical to them.
** We eventually find out that [[spoiler: this was done deliberately by the dragons. When humans began to invent gunpowder, which would put them on the path to weapons that could easily harm a dragon, [[FantasyGunControl the dragons severed the worlds and let them drift apart.]] ]]
* TheUnreveal: In-universe example. Paul knows why [[spoiler: Ken'tu Kel's plan failed despite the oracle's prophecy,]] but he refuses to tell him so as to not give him the satisfaction of knowing.
** By the time [[Literature/TheReturnOfPaulTwister the third book]] rolls around a couple years later, he's basically figured it out anyway.
* SarcasticConfession: Paul uses these a few times to get out of questions that would make trouble for him if the other person knew the truth.

** Paul's alter-egos: [[ComicBook/SpiderMan Peter Parker]], [[Franchise/{{Superman}} Clark Kent]], [[IronMan Anthony Stark]] (no one goes by "Tony" where he is,) [[Franchise/{{Batman}} Wayne Bruce]] (apparently "Bruce" is not a first name), [[{{Franchise/Zorro}} Diego de la Vega]], and [[RobinHood Robin Locksley]] are mentioned.

--> '''Paul:''' ''(Narrating)'' You know how it goes. [[Disney/{{Aladdin}} Gotta eat to live, gotta steal to eat, tell ya all about it when I got the time...]]

* IHaveManyNames: Paul goes by several aliases in different parts of the kingdom, where he has apparently established actual identities for each of them. The names he picks tend to be the secret identities of superheroes, such as [[{{Superman}} Clark Kent]] and [[Franchise/SpiderMan Peter Parker]], in the hopes of [[SomethingOnlyTheyWouldSay stealthily alerting other people from "back home" that they're not alone]] and trying to get them to seek him out. (It actually worked at one point, though it's implied that the person seeking him out has been around a long time, and so he's not the first person from Earth to be stranded there.)
** At one point in the narration, he remarks that "Paul's not my real name," which apparently he doesn't tell anyone, because [[IKnowYourTrueName real names have power]] and he's mostly in the business of screwing over powerful magic-users.

* IHaveManyNames: Paul goes by several aliases in different parts of the kingdom, where he has apparently established actual identities for each of them. The names he picks tend to be the secret identities of superheroes, such as [[{{Superman}} Clark Kent]] and [[SpiderMan Peter Parker]], in the hopes of [[SomethingOnlyTheyWouldSay stealthily alerting other people from "back home" that they're not alone]] and trying to get them to seek him out. (It actually worked at one point, though it's implied that the person seeking him out has been around a long time, and so he's not the first person from Earth to be stranded there.)

* CoolOldGuy: Gerald Wolf is an older wizard who Paul befriended as part of his backstory. According to Paul, he's the closest he's seen to actually looking like the wizard stereotype... just a lot heavier. "Imagine if they'd cast SantaClaus in the role of [[TheLordOfTheRings Gandalf.]]" He's primarily a healer, and when Paul shared the principles of Germ Theory with him, he went on to use that knowledge to help a lot of people.

** When Paul asks Gerald if he'll hang on to an ArtifactOfDoom that he's unwittingly acquired during the course of his adventures, he thinks to himself, [[TheLordOfTheRings "Hey Galadriel, you mind]] [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments hanging onto this ring of mine for a while?"]] Gerald doesn't want to, of course.

---> I scowled at him. "You want to turn me into [[CrowningMomentOfFunny some sort of rogue?]] To use my power to steal something?"

** When Paul asks Gerald if he'll hang on to an ArtifactOfDoom that he's unwittingly acquired during the course of his adventures, he thinks to himself, [[TheLordOfTheRings "Hey Galadriel, you mind]] [[CrowningMomentOfFunny hanging onto this ring of mine for a while?"]] Gerald doesn't want to, of course.

** AmazonChaser: It seems to be a big part of why he finds her attractive. (That, and his [[FetishFuel fascination with her]] [[WingedHumanoid wings.]])

** In one of the flashback chapters, when his power was first discovered and it accidentally injures someone with its chaotic side effects, he makes up a history for himself on the spur of the moment, based (very loosely) on a gender-swapped version of Marie from [[{{Film/X-Men}} the first X-Men film]]. When the guy suggests that his power could be used on purpose for personal gain, he reacts fairly strongly: