History Literature / TheUnicornChronicles

* MeaningfulName: Much is made of Cara's last name, of course, but it's worth noting that her middle name is [[spoiler: [[Characters/ClassicalMythologyOlympians Diana]]]].

* ActionGirl: Several, including Belle and M'Gama.
* ActionMom: Both [[spoiler: Cara's mother and Ivy Morris]].

* BiggerOnTheInside: Thomas's cart.

* Book VII: ''The Gathered Glory'' (announced for December 2022)

* LoveConfession: Finder to Belle as [[spoiler: he's dying in book 3]].

** She does it again, [[spoiler: this time while in unicorn form, to Beloved in book 4 by healing the horn shard trapped in her heart and keeping her in eternal, living pain. Beloved rapidly ages from the healing and dies in peace.]]

* OurGryphonsAreDifferent: Medafil is pretty much a classic gryphon. He even hoards treasure.

%%* Book VII: ''The Gathered Glory'' ([[https://twitter.com/brucecoville/status/1532087734172540928 source]]; release date not yet announced)

* AlwaysChaoticEvil: The unicorns treat the delvers this way. [[spoiler: The delvers think of themselves somewhat differently, though.]]

** [[spoiler: Cara's father, who turns on his ancestor Beloved in favor of his daughter in the climax of book 2.]]

** The dragons only sort of qualify; there's only seven -- Firethroat, Redrage, Fah-Leing, Master Bloodtongue, Graumag, Bronzeclaw and Ebillan [[spoiler: and in the climax of book 4, it turns out there's an ''eighth'', but the others don't talk to them]]) left in Luster, but there are hundreds more known to exist in another dimension.

* LukeIMightBeYourFather: In book 2, Cara meets the Queen's Players, a group of human performers traveling around Luster. The group includes [[spoiler: the acrobat Jacques]], who was once married to Cara's grandmother Ivy Morris. He is uncertain if Cara's mother Martha was his child, or the child of someone Ivy met on Earth; either way, as far as he's concerned, any grandchild of Ivy's is his as well. In book 4, he admits that he'd rather not ask Amalia to find out for sure, since this way he's happy.

* MistakenForMurderer: [[spoiler:Beloved, who was dying of an illness, was found by a unicorn in woods. The unicorn, wanting to help her, tried to heal her, which required stabbing the tip of his horn into her chest- she would be wounded, but only for a moment and then his magic would heal both the wound and her illness.]] Unfortunately that's when her father arrived, and saw only his daughter on the ground, stabbed through the heart by a unicorn's horn, and came to the obvious conclusion that she was being murdered. He attacked the unicorn to defend her, and the two killed each other in their struggle.

* Book VI: ''The Wounded Tree'' (announced for June 2022)

* BalefulPolymorph:
** Ivy is actually [[spoiler: a unicorn changed into a human by a protection spell. The spell reverses in the climax of book 2.]]
** [[spoiler: Cara is turned into a unicorn in book 4 so that she can outrun her pursuers. She doesn't change back by the end of the book.]]
** [[spoiler: The Dimblethum started out as Elihu, one of the Great Powers and resembling a human, before being forced into his current shape as punishment for officiating the unicorns' Purification Ceremony. After being manipulated by the Whisperer, he turns back into his normal state, but later sacrifices that to change Cara into a unicorn. Fallon later takes his Transformational Magic on himself, becoming the second Dimblethum so Elihu can again assume human form and use his powers to save Luster.]]
** [[spoiler: Graumag of the dragons is actually a human transformed by her stepmother.]]

* {{Foreshadowing}}: In the very first book, the Dimblethum's introduction describes him as resembling nothing so much as "a bear that started to turn into a man, but stopped before the process was complete." [[spoiler: In the final book, it's revealed that [[BalefulPolymorph the inverse is almost exactly the case]].]]

%%* Book VII:

%%* Book VI:

* Book V: ''The Invasion of Luster'' (announced for February 2022)

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: The basis for Beloved's vendetta against the unicorns is a misunderstanding between her father and a unicorn who tried to help her.

%%Book V:
%%Book VI:
%%Book VII:

* Book I: ''Into the Land of the Unicorns'' (2018)

* HalfHumanHybrid: Due to the true nature of [[spoiler: her grandmother, Cara is part unicorn]] (it's complicated). Also, the Dimblethum has the appearance of being half-human and half-bear, but it's unknown why he's that way. [[spoiler: Book 4 finally reveals that he used to be Elihu, the human who created Luster, and his transformation came about ]]

** Grimwolf the dwarf is short, cranky and not too fond of adventures happening to him. Flensa is another dwarf until she dies fighting in book 3. All dwarves can return to the stone from which they came as they die.

* ChronicHeroSyndrome: Unicorns are drawn to distressed maidens by instinct ([[spoiler: this is how Moonheart first meets "Ivy Morris", by the way]]). Knowing this, Hunters often use young girls as bait to lure out unicorns; in book 4, they even bring a group of them, the Maidens of the Hunt, to Luster for that purpose.

'''''The Unicorn Chronicles''''' is a young adult series by fantasy writer Creator/BruceCoville, chronicling the journey of a young girl named Cara through [[AnotherDimension Luster]], [[MagicLand a land populated primarily by]] {{unicorn}}s. Pursued by mysterious forces, she is forced to leave behind her life as an OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent and is sent to Luster by her grandmother with a mission to deliver a message to the Old One. Along the way, she uncovers the history of Luster and the unicorns, as well as some amazing things about her own family.

* Book I: ''Into the Land of the Unicorns'' (1994)

In 2018, Coville began re-releasing the series in seven volumes, lightly revising ''Dark Whispers'' and ''The Last Hunt'' and splitting them into two (''Enter the Whisperer'' and ''The Secret of the Delvers'') and three books each, to give the entire series a more uniform length per book.

* AndThisIsFor: [[spoiler:Fallon gets into this when he fights the Whisperer in book 4. "This is for my ''alahim''!" "And this is for my unicorns!" "This," "''this'' one is for the delvers!"]]
* AngelUnaware: [[spoiler:The Dimblethum turns out to be Elihu, Luster's creator, who was friends with Lightfoot. Later, Ian Hunter spends time traveling with Fallon, who turns out to be a Greater Power on the same level as Elihu before both of them were cast out for Elihu's rule breaking.]]
* TheAtoner: The Guardian of Memory, who stays on Earth for twenty-five years before a successor takes their place. When the unicorns left, they took something of the human heart with them, completely unintentionally; their presence helps keep the memory of Earth's magic alive, atoning for their accidentally taking that memory in the first place.
* BalefulPolymorph:
** Ivy is actually [[spoiler:a unicorn changed into a human by a protection spell. The spell reverses in the climax of book 2.]]
** [[spoiler:Cara is turned into a unicorn in book 4 so that she can outrun her pursuers. She doesn't change back by the end of the book.]]
** [[spoiler:The Dimblethum started out as Elihu, one of the Great Powers and resembling a human, before being forced into his current shape as punishment for officiating the unicorns' Purification Ceremony. After being manipulated by the Whisperer, he turns back into his normal state, but later sacrifices that to change Cara into a unicorn. Fallon later takes his Transformational Magic on himself, becoming the second Dimblethum so Elihu can again assume human form and use his powers to save Luster.]]
** [[spoiler:Graumag of the dragons is actually a human transformed by her stepmother.]]
* BigfootSasquatchAndYeti: Discussed briefly in book 3, when Ian Hunter, who's traveling in Nepal, recalls the stories of them. He's still not sure if the yeti, or Abominable Snowman, is real or just a legend, but has decided not to dismiss them as such without proof either way.
* BigDamnHeroes: [[spoiler:In the final battle of book 4, the centaurs arrive at the last minute to help the unicorns facing the Hunters and Delvers.]]
* BiggerOnTheInside: Thomas's cart.
* BittersweetEnding: In book 4 [[spoiler:the Hunters are defeated, Luster is saved from being destroyed, Rocky becomes the king of the delvers, and Cara's parents finally reunite. But... Cara has to MercyKill Beloved and is stuck in unicorn form, meaning she can never return to Earth and neither can her parents, the original Dimblethum is dead, and M'Gama and Namza are comatose while helping the world heal.]]
* TheBigGuy: The Dimblethum in the first book. He shares the position with Finder in the second.
* CallingTheOldManOut: Cara to Ivy in book 2 for lying to her [[spoiler:about everything]]. [[spoiler:Cara's mother follows suit off-screen in book 4.]]
* CannotTellALie: Dragons. [[spoiler:Which proves a problem when Amalia gave them the wrong directions to the final battlefield, and Firethroat and Graumag passed those same directions on to the centaurs, leading to their going the wrong way. Luckily, once she found out the truth, Firethroat went to get them.]]
* CantArgueWithElves: Deconstructed. [[spoiler:The reason why the unicorns are so pure of heart and suffering from ChronicHeroSyndrome is because after Whiteling's death and the surge of negative emotions they felt afterward, they forcibly removed their flaws and negative traits, as revealed in book 3. Said whispers are the combination of those flaws, still living and acting as TheCorrupter to anyone who will listen.]]
* ChekhovsGun: Cara's missing [[spoiler: last name]], and the song that Medafil's shell sings.
* ChronicHeroSyndrome: Unicorns are drawn to distressed maidens by instinct ([[spoiler:this is how Moonheart first meets "Ivy Morris", by the way]]). Knowing this, Hunters often use young girls as bait to lure out unicorns; in book 4, they even bring a group of them, the Maidens of the Hunt, to Luster for that purpose.

* TheCorrupter: The Whisperer, or "Dark Whispers", introduced in book 3. [[spoiler:The combination of all the unicorn's negative traits, they now act to manipulate others, including Beloved, and also to corrupt the delver king Gnurflax and the Dimblethum]].

* DatingCatwoman: And at least initially, it worked out. [[spoiler:Cara's maternal grandmother was a unicorn [[HumanityEnsues permanently transformed into a human]], and the connection to unicorns seems to have passed itself down to the succeeding two generations. Cara's father was a descendant of, and follower of, [[BigBad Beloved]], and a hunter of unicorns. It seems the parents never learned each other's secrets, but the mother is [[MissingMom long gone]] when the story starts.]] However, [[spoiler: she returns by the end of the series.]]
* DeathByChildbirth: When Beloved's story is first told, it's mentioned that her mother died giving birth to her.
* DimensionalTraveler: As Firethroat explains, this is one of the dragons' abilities, to move from one world to another. However, the world where the majority of the dragons went is cut off from others by the same magic that opened the original portal, preventing Earth's last seven dragons (who are now the seven dragons of Luster) from joining their kin there.
* EndOfAnAge: The former magical age of the earth is discussed more than once.
* EvilOldFolks: Beloved, who is both evil and hundreds of years old.
* TheExile: [[spoiler:Elihu was exiled from Paradise for creating a world of his own, and punished further for officiating the Purification Ceremony of the unicorns. Fallon was exiled for knowing of Elihu's actions and not reporting him.]]
* EyeScream:
** In book 3, Ian Hunter meets the Blind Man, who once traded his eyesight for knowledge. He forces Ian into a deal to lend him ''his'' sight from time to time in exchange for knowledge as well.
** The Chiron traded an eye to extend his life, placing his life-force within an egg.

* FateWorseThanDeath: A unicorn heals wounds by piercing the injury with its horn, leaving a star-shaped scar. The process is incredibly painful, but only for a moment. So [[spoiler:what would happen if the horn broke off in the injury and could not be removed? [[BigBad Beloved]] is immortal with the horn in her heart, but the pain never leaves her.]]
* FinalBattle: Happens between the unicorns and Hunters in book 4, with two dragons, the centaurs, and some other humans on the unicorns' side, and most of the delvers aiding the Hunters.
* FirstNameBasis: Cara through most of the first book, though a [[FreezeFrameBonus single line]] very early on identifies her parents as 'Ian and Martha [[spoiler: Hunter]]'. It becomes a RewatchBonus when her full name of [[spoiler:Cara Diana Hunter]] is given in Firethroat's cave and its significance is revealed.
* ForcedSleep:
** In book 2, when Ivy Morris's story of how she first came to Luster, Moonheart mentions that the Hunter who came after she and him was placed into one of these by the other unicorns who came to rescue them. As far as he knows, Martin Hunter is ''still'' in that sleeping state.
** [[spoiler:After the final battle in book 4, it's decided that the surviving Hunters who are still loyal to Beloved will be placed in the same state and join Martin in his cave.]]
* {{Foreshadowing}}: In the very first book, the Dimblethum's introduction describes him as resembling nothing so much as "a bear that started to turn into a man, but stopped before the process was complete." [[spoiler:In the final book, it's revealed that [[BalefulPolymorph the inverse is almost exactly the case]].]]
* TheGhost: Of Luster's seven dragons, all are named, but only three are actually seen in the present day, and Bronzeclaw appears in a flashback, leaving the other three - Redrage, Fah Leing and Master Bloodtongue - as this. [[spoiler:The eighth dragon, whose existence is only revealed in the final chapters of book 4, doesn't even get named.]]

* HalfHumanHybrid: Due to the true nature of [[spoiler: her grandmother, Cara is part unicorn]] (it's complicated). Also, the Dimblethum has the appearance of being half-human and half-bear, but it's unknown why he's that way. [[spoiler:Book 4 finally reveals that he used to be Elihu, the human who created Luster, and his transformation came about ]]
* HeartTrauma: In order to communicate with unicorns, your heart must be pierced by a unicorn's horn.
* HeelFaceDoorSlam: The first man who wrote about hunting unicorns actually happened to come across one already dead and wrote a lie about slaying it and how fierce the unicorns are. When he realized the damage he had done, so that the unicorns were no longer safe on Earth, he tried to recant but died with the legend still intact.
* HeelFaceTurn:

** [[spoiler:In book 4, Feng Yuan is one of the Maidens of the Hunt, who switches sides after seeing a unicorn killed and is utterly horrified by it.]]
* HeelRaceTurn: [[spoiler:In book 4, when the Whisperer is killed and the source of their negativity is gone, the delvers start turning back to normal, though it takes some of them longer than others.]]
* HereThereWereDragons: Creatures such as unicorns and dragons used to live on earth, but human persecution forced them to migrate to other worlds (Luster, in the case of the unicorns).
* HeroicSacrifice: All over the place in book 4. Among them:
** [[spoiler:Graumag sacrifices herself trying to physically hold the Axis Mundi together.]]
** [[spoiler:Namza and M'Gama sacrifice themselves to the roots of the Axis Mundi, helping hold Luster together and continuing to help it heal afterward.]]
** [[spoiler:Fallon sacrifices his human form, taking the Transformation Magic from Elihu and becoming the new Dimblethum so Elihu could try to save the Axis Mundi.]]
** [[spoiler:Elihu and Allura sacrifice themselves to heal the Axis Mundi from within and close the wound between the worlds.]]
* HeterosexualLifePartners: ''Alahim'', or "heart-brother" (which Fallon said is the closest to an actual translation for the term), is this. As Fallon explains, it is a powerful type of friendship, a bond of love and affection that requires no explanation, no promises, no forgiveness, and is like having another self, even if their goals and dreams are not the same; it is not romantic though.
* IAmWho: [[spoiler:The Dimblethum is Elihu, Luster's creator, whose knowledge was suppressed as part of his punishment for taking part in the unicorns' Purification Ceremony.]]
* IntangibleMan: The Whisperer, being made of pure negative emotions. [[spoiler:Fallon defeats it by forcing it into a physical form and tearing it apart.]]
* InterspeciesFriendship: Many, including that of Thomas the Tinker and the dragon Fah-Leing, as he mentions in book 2.

* LaserGuidedAmnesia: [[spoiler:When Flickerfoot became human, she retained her intelligence, but lost her memories of being a unicorn. They're restored with her true form at the end of book 2.]]
* LastOfHisKind: Implied to be the case for the Dimblethum and the Squijim.
** [[spoiler:It's actually more complicated with the Dimblethum, who is discovered to in fact be a transformed Great Power.]]
** The dragons only sort of qualify; there's only seven - Firethroat, Redrage, Fah-Leing, Master Bloodtongue, Graumag, Bronzeclaw and Ebillan [[spoiler:and in the climax of book 4, it turns out there's an ''eighth'', but the others don't talk to them]]) left in Luster, but there are hundreds more known to exist in another dimension.

** [[spoiler:Cara doesn't know the man hunting her in book 1 is her father until later. Nor did she know that the unicorn who healed her as a child was actually her great-uncle, or that her new friend Lightfoot is actually her cousin.]]
** [[spoiler:As a child, Ivy Morris was rescued by Moonheart. Neither knows that they're actually brother and sister until Ivy finds out shortly before regaining her true unicorn form.]]

* LukeIMightBeYourFather: In book 2, Cara meets the Queen's Players, a group of human performers traveling around Luster. The group includes [[spoiler:the acrobat Jacques]], who was once married to Cara's grandmother Ivy Morris. He is uncertain if Cara's mother Martha was his child, or the child of someone Ivy met on Earth; either way, as far as he's concerned, any grandchild of Ivy's is his as well. In book 4, he admits that he'd rather not ask Amalia to find out for sure, since this way he's happy.

* TheManBehindTheMan: [[spoiler:The Whisperer acts as this for much of the series. The pure concentrated negativity of the unicorns and their maker, it urged on the delvers, Beloved and others toward darkness.]]
* MeaningfulName: Much is made of Cara's last name, of course, but it's worth noting that her middle name is [[spoiler:[[Characters/ClassicalMythologyOlympians Diana]]]].
* MercyKill:
** Cara does this for the Chiron in book 3, who is very old and tired, but cannot die unless certain conditions are met. Cara is the only one who both meets the requirements and is willing, however reluctantly, to do so.
** She does it again, [[spoiler:this time while in unicorn form, to Beloved in book 4 by healing the horn shard trapped in her heart and keeping her in eternal, living pain. Beloved rapidly ages from the healing and dies in peace.]]
* TheMigration: Pretty much every magical species of Earth has undergone this, with the majority of dragons moving to one world and the last seven, along with the unicorns (and gryphons, merfolk, centaurs and others), moving to Luster.
* MoralityChain: Cara for [[spoiler:her father. When Beloved takes Cara hostage, he pulls a HeelFaceTurn.]]
* TheMultiverse: Known worlds in it include Earth, Luster, the world where Bellenmore sent the majority of the dragons, and the Rainbow Prison, which is actually the space ''between'' the worlds, reflecting Earth and Luster especially.

* {{Omniglot}}: Dragons have the gift of tongues, letting them understand and speak any language. [[spoiler:When Cara returns the dragon Firethroat's heart to her, she is given the boon of being allowed to drink some of the dragon's blood and thus receives the same power.]]
* OneDegreeOfSeparation: Cara's family tree is very... extensive.

** The delvers, underground goblin-like creatures, used to be normal dwarves. [[spoiler:Then they were corrupted by the Whisperer, filled with negative emotions and the power of the Whisperer itself, which draws them to the unicorns yet fills them with hatred for that race. Some of them, when away from the others for a long time and around different beings who lacked the problem, started to lose this negativity; the Whisperer's death enables them as a whole to start returning to their true selves.]]

* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: [[spoiler:More than a few of the Hunters decide to retreat back to Earth when they're losing the final battle.]]
* SoulJar:
** Cara briefly carries a dragon's soul jar in the first book, and [[spoiler:astonishes Firethroat by returning it as soon as she can. In gratitude, the dragon grants her [[{{Omniglot}} the gift of languages]].]]
** The Chiron, ruler of the centaurs, had his life-force placed in an egg to extend his lifespan; only one of royal and magical blood can break it and end his life, which he asks Cara to do for him in return for the story she seeks.

* SuccessionCrisis: A minor one when the Chiron of the centaurs dies. It's tradition that those who are willing will fight one another, and the winner becomes the new leader. [[spoiler:This is how Arkon becomes the new Chiron in book 4, after the previous one died in book 3.]]
* TakeAwayTheirName: Nedzik suffers this fate in book 3 when his king punishes him for refusing to obey orders, which is considered a betrayal. [[spoiler:Cara later nicknames him "Rocky", and he uses this name from then on.]]

* {{Teleportation}}: A limited version - "Shimmering", as it's called, is a means of rapid transport, but it only works within the Rainbow Prison, and involves a lot of concentration and picturing where the person wants to go.

* TokenHeroicOrc: Nedzik, later known as Rocky, gives Cara and her friends help in the first book, and later refuses to attack M'Gama's home in order to get an item they need to make Beloved's invasion easier. For it, he's stripped of his name and imprisoned, but he winds up joining Cara in escaping when she's thrown in the same prison cell. [[spoiler:It later turns out his teacher Namza was also one, and Rocky's cousins join him later; these actions later culminate in his becoming the new king after the Whisperer is killed and the delvers as a whole pull a HeelRaceTurn.]]
* TouchTelepathy: Unicorns need physical contact in order to speak to people telepathically, though they can only do it with those whose hearts they've pierced with their horn.
* TranslatorMicrobes: Among other gifts, dragons have the gift of tongues, letting them understand and speak any language. By drinking their blood (if it's fresh and given willingly), others can acquire this same power. [[spoiler:It even works for Cara after she becomes a unicorn.]]
* {{Unicorn}}: Well, ''duh''. Their origins are revealed in book 4: [[spoiler:Fallon, a Greater Power, made the first four pairs of unicorns as an expression of joy and thanks, his gift to Earth to thank it for sheltering him after he was cast out of the Higher Realms. As such, he is essentially their father, and his blood flows through the veins of all of them... and even the Whisperer, since it was created from the unicorns.]]
* WalkingTheEarth:

* WorldTree: The Axis Mundi, the very heart of Luster; it sprouted when [[spoiler:Elihu embedded a stolen seed into a piece of mass from a star and watered it with his own blood, and so became the beginnings of Luster. When Beloved's gate pierces through it, it nearly results in the destruction of Luster.]]
* WouldHurtAChild: Beloved would certainly [[spoiler:hurt her own great-great-great-great-granddaughter.]]