History Series / TheStoryteller

** "Fearnot" has the most at 3: the title character, his sleazy but good-natured companion Mr. McKay, and his lover Lydia.

* NoNameGiven: Very few characters on the series have an actual name at all.

** Played straight in "The Luck Child". At the beginning of the story, the evil king throws the eponymous baby off a cliff to the crashing waves below, but the blanket snags on a branch on the way down, unraveling and dropping the baby gently and safely on the soft sand.

* TheOathBreaker: Theseus promised his mother not to leave her side, his father to raise white sails rather than black if he survived his trip to Crete and Ariadne to take her home with him if she helped him escape the labyrinth. He ends up breaking all three promises.

* ScheherezadeGambit: "A Story Short" has the Storyteller himself challenged to give the king a new story every day for a year and a day, with food, lodging, and a gold piece for every day he succeeds, and death if he fails. It's only on the final day that he finally runs out of stories, but a [[CharacterWitness friendly]] [[SidekickExMachina beggar]] he had helped get fed in the opening act gives him a fantastic dream vision for a final story.

* StoneSoup: Appears in "A Story Short," but with the BrokenAesop that rather than learning the value of cooperation, the cook is infuriated at being deceived and demands that the Stone Soup makers be executed for stealing. In the end, though, he changes his ways.

* ElectiveMute: The princess from "The Three Ravens" must remain silent for three years, three months, three weeks, and three days in order to free her brothers from their {{curse}}.

%% * 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.

* ParentalIncest: Sapsorrow has to marry her father because the queen's ring fits her finger. She disguises herself as a creature with fur and feathers and leaves her kingdom to avoid this.

* CinderellaCircumstances: Two examples.
** "Sapsorrow": The titular heroine has countless animal companions and is bullied by her sisters, but she's still a princess to start with. When circumstances force her to disguise herself as a creature of fur and feathers and abandon her home, she spends the next two years as a servant in another palace, only to fall in love with the prince.
** "The True Bride": Anja begins as an abused servant to a troll. The role of the fairy godmother falls to the Thought Lion, whose intervention leads to the troll's death and her moving in to the newly built palace. But that's only the start of the story...

* ImprobableInfantSurvival: Played with in "The Three Ravens". The WickedStepmother tries to have the heroine's infant children killed, but they are rescued by her brothers, who have been turned into ravens.

* ArcNumber: "The Three Ravens" has [[RuleOfThree 3]] as its primary number: 3 of the four children turn into ravens. To turn them back, the fourth must remain silent for 3 years, 3 months, and 3 days. Over that time, she gives birth to 3 sons, all of whom go missing. [[spoiler:Also PlayedForLaughs at the end: she breaks her silence 3 minutes too soon, meaning that her youngest brother's left arm remains cursed as a raven's wing forever. Not that he minds.]]

* TilMurderDoUsPart: In "The Three Ravens", the WickedStepmother murders her husband after she turns her stepsons into ravens.

* TakenForGranite: The eponymous "Heartless Giant" turns Leo's brothers to stone, along with several others. When they are freed it's revealed that they were [[AndIMustScream alive and conscious]] the whole time and forced to witness the Giant's crimes. It's a factor in their decision to [[spoiler:kill the Giant by destroying his heart, despite Leo's conviction that the Giant would turn good if his heart was restored.]]

* InfantImmortality: Played with in "The Three Ravens". The WickedStepmother [[MoralEventHorizon tries to have the heroine's infant children killed]], but they are rescued by her brothers, who have been turned into ravens.

%% * GettingCrapPastTheRadar: 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.

* ArcNumber: "The Three Ravens" has [[RuleOfThree 3]] as its primary number: three of the four children turn into ravens, to turn them back, the fourth must remain silent for 3 years, 3 months, and 3 days, and she gets pregnant with 3 kids, all of whom go missing. [[spoiler:Also PlayedForLaughs at the end, she speaks 3 minutes too early, and as a direct result, one of her brothers permanently has a raven wing.]]
* TheAtoner: The Princess in "Hans, My Hedgehog" decides to wander the Earth, both to find her hedgehog husband and in penance for breaking her promise

* BitchInSheepsClothing: The WickedStepmother in "The Three Ravens"

** In "Hans, My Hedgehog" he interrupts the story because he thinks the Story Teller is telling the story incorrectly and tells part of the story himself.

* CinderellaCircumstances: Sapsorrow, and Anja from "The True Bride".

* DelusionsOfEloquence: In "The True Bride", both The Troll and The Troll's Daughter speak in a strange manner, with word choices that suggests they don't ''quite'' know the meanings of all the words they're using.
* {{Determinator}}: the Princess in "Hans, My Hedgehog" wanders the Earth until three pairs of iron shoes have been worn down to nothing and her hair has turned snow white.

* DownerEnding: A couple of the fairy tales and ''all'' of the Greek Myths except that of Perseus.

* ElectiveMute: The princess from "The Three Ravens" must remain silent for three years, three months, three weeks and three days in order to free her brothers from their {{curse}}.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: Or sympathy, at least. In "The Luck Child", the king promises Lucky a place in his court, but gives him a letter telling the queen to order his death instead (to avoid a prophecy that the boy would replace him). En route to the king's palace, the boy falls into the clutches of a poisoner and forger who finds the letter and is so affronted by the king's plot that he forges a new one telling the queen to marry Lucky to their daughter the princess.
* FateWorseThanDeath: Lots. Fairy tales, you know.

* FearlessFool: Fearnot, who is portrayed as rather naive and frankly a little stupid in addition to being fearless. He sets out on a quest to find out what fear is.

%% * 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.

* ScheherezadeGambit: "A Story Short" has the Storyteller himself challenged to give the king a new story every day for a year and a day, with food, lodging and a gold piece for every day he succeeds, and death if he fails. By the last day, he's completely stumped, but a [[CharacterWitness friendly]] [[SidekickExMachina beggar]] he had helped get fed in the opening act gives him a fantastic dream vision for a final story.
* ShirtlessScene: True to their many famous sculptures (or at least as true as you can get without pissing the censors off) both Perseus and Theseus get at least one in their respective ''Greek Myths'' episodes. Also true to the sculptures, [[MrFanservice their physiques aren't too shabby either.]]

* StoneSoup: Appears in "A Story Short," but with the BrokenAesop that rather than learning the value of cooperation, the cook is infuriated at being deceived and demands that the Stone Soup makers be executed for stealing.

* DelusionsOfEloquence: In "The True Bride", both The Troll and The Troll's Daughter speak in a strange manner, with word choices that suggests they don't ''quite'' [[YouKeepUsingThatWord know the meanings of all the words they're using]].

* ''The Storyteller: Dragons'' (2015~2016)

Since the end of the show further stories have been released in comic form. A graphic novel with [[http://natecosboom.tumblr.com/post/5582647532/jim-hensons-the-storyteller-cast-revealed nine stories]] (one of which, "The Witch Baby", adapted an unproduced series script) came out in September 2011 by Creator/ArchaiaEntertainment. A four issue mini-series entitled ''The [=StoryTeller=]: Witches'' was also released by the same company in 2014 and likewise adapted an unproduced script ("Vasilissa the Beautiful"). That was followed by four issue mini-series entitled ''The Storyteller: Dragons'' in 2016, ''The Storyteller: Giants'' in late 2016, ''The Storyteller: Fairies'' in 2017, ''The Storyteller: Sirens'' in 2019 and ''The Storyteller: Ghosts'' in 2020.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar:
** The episode "Perseus and the Gorgon" includes the part of the myth concerning Perseus' conception. After the Storyteller mentions that a shower of gold appeared to Danae, he and the dog have this exchange:
--->'''Dog:''' What ''was'' it?\\
'''Storyteller:''' It was Zeus, lord of all gods.\\
'''Dog:''' What... was he doing?\\
'''Storyteller:''' Fulfilling the oracle.\\
'''Dog:''' ''[{{beat}}]'' Ohhhh. So ''that's'' how it's done!
** In "The True Bride", the daughter of the Troll (who steals away the heroine's husband) is called "the trollop".
** In "The Three Ravens", after mentioning that the prince and princess got married, the Storyteller says that "the moon was honey for them"... as the camera pans over the happy couple, revealing the princess to be pregnant. [[GoodPeopleHaveGoodSex Think about it]].

Since the end of the show further stories have been released in comic form. A graphic novel with [[http://natecosboom.tumblr.com/post/5582647532/jim-hensons-the-storyteller-cast-revealed nine stories]] (one of which, "The Witch Baby", adapted an unproduced series script) came out in September 2011 by Creator/ArchaiaEntertainment. A four issue mini-series entitled ''The [=StoryTeller=]: Witches'' was also released by the same company in 2014 and likewise adapted an unproduced script ("Vasilissa the Beautiful"). That was followed by four issue mini-series entitled ''The Storyteller: Dragons'' in 2016, ''The Storyteller: Giants'' in late 2016, ''The Storyteller: Fairies'' in December 2017 and ''The Storyteller: Sirens'' in 2019.

* TheDreaded: The Soldier is able to strike fear into any demon, as well as Death himself. Unfortunately, this comes back to bite him when Death refuses to take him out of fear and the demons deny him access to Hell (as well as being to sinful too be allowed into Heaven) when he grows tired of living.