History Literature / UnicornsOfBalinor

* HeroesWantRedheads: Finn, who starts out asking Arianna far too many uncomfortable questions about [[KingIncognito herself]] and [[PaperThinDisguise her unicorn]], ends up being liked by her and Lori.
** In a sort-of version of this trope, Finn often ends up working with Rednal, a red celestial unicorn.

* [[DeadlyGame Deadly Race]]: Ari and Chase enter in a steeplechase with ''five-foot tall '''burning''' fences'' to won the prize for one of the magical tests.

* HeroesWantRedheads: Finn, who starts out asking Arianna far too many uncomfortable questions about [[KingIncognito herself]] and [[PaperThinDisguise her unicorn]], ends up being liked by both girls.

* TheMasquerade: Inverted in the beginning--neither Ari nor Chase remembered who they were, so the masquerade was imposed upon ''them'' to ensure their safe recovery, and to make sure the Shifter wouldn't find them. Played straight several times later, when using their real identities would be risky.

* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: Ari needs to do a LOT to get Balinor back in order: Fix Chase's horn, defeat the Shifter, get the palace up and running, find out which of the nobility is still loyal/alive...

* StrongFamilyResemblance: Numinor, Sunchaser, and Rednal are all brothers and they all are colored like precious metals--Numinor being gold, Sunchaser bronze, and Rednal is copper.
* TalkingApplianceSidekick: The royal sceptre, which at first can only speak if you ask it a question, but later gains the ability to talk on its own.

* OrphanedSeries: Apparently. The last book is the eighth, released in 2000, but the series as a whole is clearly not finished. Stanton last posted on her Facebook page in 2013, stating that she'd wrap up the last few plot ends for this series and her other works, but nothing has since materialized.

* {{Veganopia}}: DownplayedTrope. Everyone is vegetarian, since [[IntellectualAnimal the animals of Balinor]] [[TalkingAnimal can talk.]] Humans eat dairy products and fish, and carnivorous animals eat fish and bugs. If they break the laws on eating other creatures, [[TheSpeechless they lose their speech as punishment.]] Leather is also clearly used for its normal purposes--perhaps when some animals die, in a “waste not, want not” mentality? It’s also not known whether Balinor’s inhabitants eat eggs; the innkeeper’s wife Runetta makes cakes for a party, but historical cake recipes were yeast-based and didn’t all use eggs.

** Ari can still recognize English/British accents by sound if not names while recovering from amnesia, because Chase himself has a British-like accent when she starts hearing him telepathically. He’s distinct from herself, Frank, and Anne, [[CaptainObvious so Balinor clearly has people with American-counterpart accents,]] which would put Balinor’s current time-period somewhere in the 1800s-1900s.

* {{Veganopia}}: DownplayedTrope. Everyone is vegetarian, since [[IntellectualAnimal the animals of Balinor]] [[TalkingAnimal can talk.]] Humans eat dairy products and fish, and carnivorous animals eat fish and bugs. If they break the laws on eating other creatures, [[TheSpeechless they lose their speech as punishment.]] Leather is also clearly used for its normal purposes—-perhaps when some animals die, in a “waste not, want not” mentality? It’s also not known whether Balinor’s inhabitants eat eggs; the innkeeper’s wife Runetta makes cakes for a party, but historical cake recipes were yeast-based and didn’t all use eggs.

** Faceted gemstones, such as Chase’s restored horn having a ‘’brilliant-cut’’ ruby at the base, would put the earliest “time period” for Balinor at 1475.

** Archon the Archivist has quite a distinct job-name compared to a “historian” or “record-keeper,” and would probably be called such after 1571 at the earliest in our world.

** Ari can still recognize English/British accents by sound if not names while recovering from amnesia, because Chase himself has a British-like accent when she starts hearing him telepathically. He’s distinct from herself, Frank and Anne, [[CaptainObvious so Balinor clearly has people with American-counterpart accents,]] which would put Balinor’s current time-period somewhere in the 1800s-1900s.

** Ari can still recognize English/British accents by sound if not names while recovering from amnesia, because Chase himself has a British-like accent when she starts hearing him telepathically. He’s distinct from herself, Frank and Anne, [[LogicalConclusion so they clearly have American-counterpart accents,]] which would put Balinor’s current time-period somewhere in the 1800s-1900s.

** Archon the Archivist has a very distinct job-name compared to a “historian” or “record-keeper,” and would probably be called such after 1571 at the earliest in our world.

* [[DeadlyGame Deadly Race]]: Ari and Chase enter in a steeplechase with ''five-foot tall '''burning''' fences.''

* {{Matriarchy}}: ImpliedTrope. The Royal Princesses of Balinor go through magical rites so the animals of the world can retain their speech, and they must keep the BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil. The role is passed down from mother to daughter, so Tace's and Bren's future daughters won't inherit the magic, while Ari's future (first?) daughter will. With Balinor being such a large country, Ari's quests have sent her on days to weeks of travel at a time, which is not ideal for a ruler who needs to attend to mundane/political matters. It's quite likely that Ari's magical duties are separate from the regular/political duties that her brothers would have.

* {{Veganopia}}: DownplayedTrope. Everyone is vegetarian, since [[IntellectualAnimal the animals of Balinor]] [[TalkingAnimal can talk.]] Humans eat dairy products and fish, and the carnivorous animals eat fish and bugs. If they break the laws on eating other creatures, [[TheSpeechless they lose their speech as punishment.]] It’s not known whether Balinor’s inhabitants eat eggs; the innkeeper’s wife Runetta makes cakes for a party, but historical cake recipes didn’t all use eggs.

* {{Matriarchy}}: ImpliedTrope. The Royal Princesses of Balinor go through magical rites so the animals of the world can retain their speech, and the world can keep the BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil, and it's passed down strictly from mother to daughter. Tace's and Bren's future daughters won't inherit the magical powers, while Ari's future (first?) daughter will. With Balinor being such a large country, Ari's quests have sent her on days to weeks of travel at a time, which is not ideal for a ruler who needs to attend to mundane/political matters. It's quite likely that Ari's magical duties are separate from the regular/political duties that her brothers would have.

* {{Veganopia}}: DownplayedTrope. Everyone is vegetarian, since [[IntellectualAnimal the animals of Balinor]] [[TalkingAnimal can talk.]] Humans eat dairy products and fish, and the carnivorous animals eat fish and bugs. If they break the laws on eating other creatures, [[TheSpeechless they lose their speech as punishment.]]

* HumanityIsSuperior: While Entia likes the power of other forms, he ''really'' likes humans... especially their hands.

* {{Matriarchy}}: ImpliedTrope. The Royal Princesses of Balinor go through magical rites so the animals of the world can retain their speech. Since Ari's mother was Royal Princess a generation ago and Ari is the current one, odds are likely that the magical inheritance for Balinor goes through female members of the line. That means either Tace's, Bren's, or Ari's future first daughter would be the next Royal Princess.

* {{Matriarchy}}: ImpliedTrope. The Royal Princesses of Balinor go through magical rites so the animals of the world can retain their speech. Since Ari's mother was Royal Princess a generation ago and Ari is the current one, odds are likely that the magical inheritance for Balinor goes through female members of the line. That means Ari's first niece through either Tace or Bren, or her own first daughter, would be the next Royal Princess.