Line #116 Characters/EarthsChildrenAyla


1	Main character page can be found [[Characters/EarthsChildren here]].
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3	[[header:Ayla]]
4	->'''Appears in:''' ''The Clan of the Cave Bear'' \| ''The Valley of Horses'' \| ''The Mammoth Hunters'' \| ''The Plains of Passage'' \| ''The Shelters of Stone'' \| ''The Land of Painted Caves''
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6	[[TheProtagonist The main protagonist]] of the series. She is notable for being a Cro-Magnon girl taken in and raised by Neanderthals (the Clan) after her family died and spends much of the story trying to find a place to belong.
7
8	Ayla is the adopted daughter of Iza, a medicine woman (healer) of the Clan, the adopted older sister of Uba and adopted niece of Creb, a Mog-ur (shaman) who views her as a daughter. She's also the adopted niece of Brun, the leader of the clan that takes her in, though their relationship is more distant compared to her close bond with Creb. Her mother trains her as a medicine woman so that she will have a place amongst the Clan, though she eventually comes to realise her destiny lies elsewhere. She becomes the love interest of Jondalar of the Zelandonii in the second book.
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13	[[folder: A - D]]
14	* AbsurdlyYouthfulMother: People are generally shocked (even by Cro-Magnon standards where teenage pregnancy is common) when they find out how young she was when she had her first child. She was only ''eleven'', she having been raped by Broud. She isn't considered unusual by Clan standards, as they reach physical maturity much sooner, but when Jondalar figures out how young she was, [[NotMakingThisUpDisclaimer she has to assure him the age is, in fact, correct]]. As it turns out, being pregnant at such a young age causes Ayla a lot of health problems and she suffers an excruciating and dangerous birth. To put this further into perspective, by the time she's twenty she has two kids under ten, one of whom is nearly ''half'' her age.
15	* TheAce: Ayla is notably adept at a variety of things, including hunting, healing, cooking, riding horses and taming animals, to name a few. Many of the things she's good at come from years of dedicated practice and training by people better than her, and by living with the Clan, where she was required to develop various skills (such as her physical strength and excellent memory) simply to keep up and avoid being TheLoad; given she lives completely alone for three years, she also has to get good at various things purely to survive. She's also not without her issues, particularly surrounding her self-confidence and sense of identity, making her more of a BrokenAce. And regardless of her myriad skills, Ayla can't carry a tune to save her life.
16	* ActionSurvivor: In the first few books, she survives many dangerous situations through either luck, learned survival skills or a combination of both. She becomes an outright ActionGirl when facing off against Attaroa and the Three Sisters Camp, Charoli's gang and Balderan's gang, successfully fighting them off or intimidating them into surrendering uses a sling and spears.
17	* AdorablyPrecociousChild: Subverted and deconstructed. Upon her adoption into the Clan, she shows abundant curiosity about everything concerning her new home and family. Although she initially gets away with many behaviors that are considered rude or inconsistent with her station in life, the continuation of these behaviors is soon chalked up to a lack of proper discipline.
18	* AdultAdoptee: After living with and growing close to the Lion Camp of the Mamutoi, they ask her to formally join them, with Talut and Nezzie offering to adopt her; at the time Ayla is around 18, considered by an adult by Mamutoi standards (and by Clan standards she'd been an adult since she was 10). However, to everyone's surprise the shaman Mamut is the one to formally adopt her, although Talut and Nezzie are still like parents to her; the whole camp basically becomes one extended family for Ayla, which is a big deal for her because she was orphaned as a child and forced to leave the family who raised her. Even after leaving the Mamutoi to join the Zelandonii she proudly states she's "Ayla of the Mamutoi" when people ask where she's from.
19	* AllGirlsLikePonies: She adopts an orphaned foal out of loneliness and becomes one of the first people to tame and ride horses. She absolutely adores her horse Whinney (along with her eventual foals, Racer and Grey) and regards her as one of her best friends (Whinney is also one of Ayla's ''only'' friends for close to the three years, as there are no people living nearby).
20	* AllLovingHeroine: With a few exceptions, Ayla is polite and friendly to just about everyone she meets, including animals.
21	* TheAloner: For a good part of ''The Valley Of Horses'', she's by herself with only animals for companionship. She's actually surviving completely alone in the wilderness, using all the skills she learned in the Clan, for around three years.
22	* AmazonianBeauty: She's tall and has an athletic build - Jondalar even thinks she's one of the strongest women he's ever seen – and is very beautiful, though by Clan standards (and in her own opinion), she's seen as more of a BrawnHilda.
23	* AmIJustAToyToYou: When she's debating whether to marry Ranec despite her ongoing love for Jondalar, she thinks that Jondalar must not love her anymore and was possibly never that serious about her at all, as he's not only been avoiding and emotionally withdrawing from her, he never told her he wanted to be her mate, make a hearth with her and raise children (unlike Ranec). Near the end of the third book, when Ayla and Jondalar reconcile, Ayla points this out to Jondalar after he explains he never stopped loving her. Jondalar chides himself for taking Ayla for granted, not realising how she may be feeling and not making his own feelings clear; he tells her he absolutely wants to be with her for the rest of their lives and she happily accepts his proposal.
24	* AnimalMotif: The [[PantheraAwesome cave lion]], which is her totem animal. She is strong in both mind and body, brave and powerful, yet also protective and nurturing. She is nearly killed by a cave lion as a child, who claws her leg and leaves her with scars resembling the Clan's symbol for lion, which Creb believes was the Cave Lion spirit claiming her. Lions are also directly or indirectly involved in other important events in her life.[[note]]Among others, the cave she lives in for three years was once the home of lions, her adopted lion Baby 'brings' Jondalar to her, and her first experience living with a Cro-Magnon society is with the Lion Camp[[/note]]
25	* AppearanceAngst: Growing up as a Cro-Magnon raised by Neanderthals, Ayla is well aware she looks different from everyone else. But when she clearly sees her reflection for the first time in a pool of water, she's so startled by ''how'' different she is that she bursts into tears and sobs to her mother that she didn't know she was so ugly. It's made clear that Ayla isn't ugly (in fact, by most Cro-Magnon standards she's a stunner), it's just that by the Clan's standards she looks strange and her appearance clearly marks her as 'other' no matter how hard she tries to fit in. She isn't so angsty about it after her mother tells her that while she might be unattractive by Clan standards, being pretty isn't the be-all-end-all and she has plenty to offer in other areas, though her perception of her appearance remains a bit skewed.
26	* TheApprentice: She learns several useful skills from older, more experienced mentors.
27	** She was apprenticed to her adoptive mother Iza, who taught her medicine.
28	** She was an informal apprentice to both Droog and Zoug. She learned how make tools and weapons from Droog (he didn't see any harm in letting her watch him and play around making tools, as long as didn't touch any made for the Clan's use, which is considered bad luck), and she secretly watched Zoug to learn how to use a sling.
29	** She receives some shaman training from Mamut in ''The Mammoth Hunters'' and becomes the official acolyte of Zelandoni Who Is First at the end of ''The Shelters of Stone''.
30	* ArmorPiercingQuestion:
31	** When Ayla is telling Jondalar about Broud repeatedly raping her when she was a child, Jondalar says he doesn't understand why, after what Broud did, she still doesn't think of him as an animal. Ayla pointedly asks Jondalar what he would call men of the Others who rape Clan women, leaving Jondalar silent.
32	** When Jondalar tells Ayla of his fears he profaned the sanctity of First Rites by making the girls he deflowered [[SexEqualsLove fall 'in love' with him]] (even if only for that night), Ayla says she really doesn't think this sounds so bad, bluntly asking Jondalar if he knows what it's like to have your first sexual experience involve a man who doesn't care about you at all violently force himself on you (which Ayla sadly has personal experience with). Jondalar realizes Ayla has a point and that maybe he didn't do anything so wrong after all.
33	%%* {{Archenemy}}: To Broud.
34	* ArtisticLicenseMilitary: After a close call with a lynx, Ayla learns to fire two stones from a sling in quick succession as added insurance. Firing two stones from a sling in the manner that she is described to do is not actually possible.
35	* BabyFeverTrigger: In ''The Clan of the Cave Bear'', Ayla decides she wants children when she grows up after her little sister Uba is born and she helps her mother care for her, something that brings her great joy. Ayla is told she's unlikely to ever get pregnant because [[MissConception her totem is too strong]], which makes her determined to keep her unexpected pregnancy despite the health risks (she's only ''eleven''), believing it could be her only chance to be a mother.
36	* BackFromTheDead: After returning to the Clan following a month-long death curse. Even discounting the slim chance of survival in the wilderness by oneself for a month, the Clan believe that a death curse kills a person in a very literal sense.
37	* BattleCouple: With Jondalar in the fourth book; they work together to fend off Charoli’s gang.
38	* TheBeastMaster: To an extent. Many people believe she can control animals through some kind of magic, though in reality, she can simply command animals she has raised from infancy and whose behaviour she has closely studied. For example, she can give commands to Baby, her cave lion, because he views her as his mother and thus dominant over him. If she tried it with any other cave lion, she'd probably lose some limbs. No matter how she tries to explain this to people though, they still generally believe she has mystical powers over animals.
39	* BeautyEqualsGoodness: Played straight; she's both incredibly beautiful and kindhearted, [[IAmNotPretty though personally she thinks she's ugly]].
40	* BeenThereShapedHistory: A non SpeculativeFiction example. She is responsible for many significant technological advances or innovations in the setting, including domesticating horses and wolves, travois, starting fires with flint, suturing wounds, sewing with needles, and figuring out how conception works. The author write on what she has researched; Ayla is the vehicle to describe it.
41	* BettyAndVeronica: In a gender-flipped example, she has the choice between Ranec (the Betty) and Jondalar (the Veronica) in ''The Mammoth Hunters. Jondalar is moody, troubled, and a MasterOfTheMixedMessage but also has a good heart and a passion for life; he's also something of an outsider to the Lion Camp, as although he's welcomed by them and makes friends, he's never truly one of them. Ranec is the sweet, attentive BoyNextDoor (literally) who has lived with the Lion Camp most of his life and wants Ayla to settle down with him after the Camp adopts her. Although Ayla is fond of Ranec and knows that on paper he would make a decent mate, plus she would be able to have the stable home and family she'd always wanted, she admits that it's Jondalar she wants to have a future with even though choosing him is more challenging, and she wouldn't truly be happy with Ranec.
42	* BigDamnHeroes:
43	** In the first book, she sees young Brac being carried off by a hyena and everyone panicking as none of them are close enough to reach him in time. Ayla uses her sling to fire two stones at the hyena in quick succession, killing it, then rushes in to treat Brac's injuries, leaving everyone stunned. Once the adrenaline has worn off though, the mood quickly turns, as Ayla has just publicly revealed her forbidden use of a weapon, the punishment for which is death.
44	** She manages this twice in the fourth book; first she comes riding in [[HorseBackHeroism on her horse]] to stop Attaroa from killing Jondalar, and then again with Jondalar when they come to a Clan couple's rescue.
45	* BlemishedBeauty: Ayla is considered very beautiful, though she has a few noticeable blemishes, including a few scars on her body (in particular prominent claw marks on her thigh) and stretch marks on her stomach and abdomen from pregnancy. They're not seen as making her less attractive and her scars in particular make her interesting to people, as it suggests a colourful past. When her love interest Jondalar first sees her undressed, he finds her blemishes intriguing; based on her stretch marks he correctly guesses she has given birth, but wonders if something tragic happened to her child as she lives alone (Ayla eventually confides that her son is alive, but she was forced to leave him behind). Notably, Ayla doesn't consider herself attractive but ''not'' because of her scars and stretch marks, instead considering them to be reminders of significant moments in her life.
46	* BlindObedience: Due to being raised by the Clan, where women are expected to be subservient to men, this causes confusion when Ayla first interacts with the Others. Even after being told that women are free to do as they please, Ayla often has to resist the urge to automatically comply with a man's or a leader's wishes.
47	* BornLucky: Although she later survives and achieves things through her own skills, Ayla got some incredibly lucky breaks as a child; she's extremely fortunate to have lived past the ''first chapter'' of ''The Clan of the Cave Bear''. The Clan actually believe her to be a source of good luck, as shortly after she's adopted by them, she finds a cave that is ideal for them to set up a new home. And though it's likely just a coincidence, after Broud unjustly curses Ayla with death an earthquake destroys the cave, with some of the Clan believing his actions angered the spirits and caused them to retaliate.
48	* BraidsOfAction: She often wears her hair in lots of small braids to keep it off her face when she hunts.
49	* BrattyHalfPint: Several members of the Clan see her as this when she's a girl due to her non-conformance (whether conscious or not) with Clan customs, such as her habit of running everywhere and her obvious reluctance to wait upon Broud hand and foot.
50	%%* BroodingBoyGentleGirl: She and Jondalar have a bit of this dynamic.
51	* ButICantBePregnant: Her pregnancy in ''The Clan of the Cave Bear'' comes as a complete shock to the clan, as most people believed her totem was too strong to be overcome by any of the men's (the Clan believe women are impregnated when their totems are defeated by a man's, though Ayla's totem is a freaking ''[[PantheraAwesome Cave Lion]]''). Ayla herself doesn't realise she's pregnant until Iza notices the symptoms and points it out to her. Even with a modern understanding of conception, Ayla's pregnancy is highly unusual: she's only ''eleven''.
52	* CannotTellALie: Because the Clan who raised her [[LanguageOfTruth communicate via body language]], the concept of lying is virtually unknown to her. She can [[LivingLieDetector usually tell if other people are lying to her]] and cannot fathom lying herself - the best she can do is "[[YouDidntAsk refrain from mentioning]]".
53	* CatholicSchoolGirlsRule: Culturally and genderswapped. When asking for clothing, Ayla is given as a prank winter underwear for a boy and the belt for signifying they started puberty. Because it is boy-sized (snug) and Ayla's ignorance of the faux pas it becomes a SexyWhateverOutfit.
54	* ChekhovsSkill: In the first book, Iza shows Ayla how to quickly and simply make shoes, by cutting up leather and tying them around her ankles, with the leather moulding to the shape of her feet over time. Years later in the fourth book, Ayla realises she can use this technique to quickly make booties for Whinney and Racer, to protect their hooves as they're trying to cross a glacier.
55	* ChildByRape: She gives birth to her son Durc when she’s only ''eleven'', after being raped by Broud. She has no angst over it; in fact, finding out she's pregnant snaps her out of her depression after being abused by Broud, as she had always wanted to be a mother. Initially, she doesn’t realize the pregnancy is the result of rape, but even after figuring it out she is still happy she had Durc.
56	* ChildOfTwoWorlds: Of the RaisedByNatives variety: she is Cro-Magnon but was raised by Neanderthals after being orphaned. It causes her a lot of problems throughout the story, though she mostly liked living with the Clan and refuses to be ashamed of her upbringing.
57	* {{Claustrophobia}}: Getting snowed in during blizzards without an understanding of air holes--snuffs out any fire and increases [=CO2=] levels--brings this out in her. The first occurrence is during the death curse (complete communal shunning and ostracization), while the second occurs while she's on a mammoth hunt.
58	--> "The evil spirits, they tricked me. They made me think I was alive in my cave, but I am dead."
59	* ConstantlyCurious: A central trait of hers is that she's always eager to explore, learn and try new things. It leads to her making some pretty amazing discoveries and innovations...but it also [[CuriosityIsACrapshoot gets her in trouble at times]], especially when she's living with the Clan (who struggle to grasp new concepts and deviances from the norm).
60	* ContraceptionDeception: She starts taking a contraceptive tea without telling her lover Jondalar in ''The Plains of Passage''; they both want children but as they're in the middle of a long and dangerous journey to Jondalar's homeland a pregnancy would be far from ideal. She does consider telling him but doesn't get around to it, as Iza had ingrained in her not to tell men about the tea as some may react badly to finding out women can control their fertility. It doesn't help that most people in the setting [[MissConception don't understand how pregnancy occurs]], namely not realizing that sexual intercourse is a big component; Ayla figures it out and tells Jondalar of her theories, but he's a bit skeptical. Jondalar privately worries over the fact Ayla hasn't gotten pregnant yet, believing there may be something wrong with him (as he knows Ayla has previously given birth) although a shaman he confides in suggests that the Great Mother knows they're not yet ready for a baby. After the most difficult part of their journey is over, Ayla impulsively decides not to drink the tea and quickly gets pregnant.
61	* ConvenientlyAnOrphan: She becomes an orphan in the opening pages of the first novel, kickstarting the events of the whole series.
62	* ConvenientMiscarriage: [[spoiler: Averted; she suffers a miscarriage late in ''The Land of Painted Caves'' and is actually pretty distraught about it; when the shamans suggest the Earth Mother took her baby in exchange for granting her a vision that makes her a full shaman, she wishes that the Mother would take away her psychic gifts and give her back her baby]].
63	%%* CoolBigSis: To Uba (who is her adopted sister), Latie, Rydag, Madenia and Folara.
64	* CulturalRebel: Amongst the Clan, her teaching herself to hunt with a sling is not only frowned upon, but is completely baffling to them, as Clan women no longer possess the genetic memories for hunting and so wouldn't even consider learning to hunt.
65	* CursedWithAwesome: Invoked by Creb in her case. Her totem, the cave lion, was among the most powerful, if not ''the'' most powerful, of totems. While it provides strong protection, Creb explains that all strong totems are difficult to live with, giving grueling tests of character at every turn. Plus, according to Clan lore, a woman with such a powerful totem stands little if any chance of giving birth.
66	* DaddyHadAGoodReasonForAbandoningYou: Gender-flipped, in regards to her son, Durc. At the end of ''The Clan of the Cave Bear'', she is forced to leave the clan by Broud, who curses her with death, meaning she is literally [[UnPerson seen as dead]] by the clan. Ayla cannot take Durc with her because travelling to locations unknown in the wilderness is difficult enough without a young child to look after and he would likely be considered dead as well, cutting him off from the Clan permanently. Ayla knows he'll be alright because Uba and Brun will care for him, though they’re both still devastated. A few years later, in ''The Mammoth Hunters'', Ayla seriously considers trying to find Durc and bringing him to live with her at the Lion Camp. However, in the end she decides against this, partly out of practicality (she has no idea where his clan is living now or how to find them) and partly because she realises it would be unfair to Durc - he has spent his whole life with the Clan and has a place amongst them, whilst he would be [[HalfBreedDiscrimination discriminated against]] amongst Cro-Magnon and have a much more difficult life.
67	* DamselInDistress: Largely averted, as she's pretty good at [[DamselOutOfDistress getting herself out of scrapes]], but one standout example is in the sixth book, where an AxCrazy guy named Balderan [[spoiler: takes her hostage and tries to strangle her]] as part of his plan to escape capture. It doesn't end so well for him, though, because Jondalar is standing nearby...
68	* DefiledForever: Some Cro-Magnon view Ayla as this upon learning she bore a half-Clan child after being raped by Broud; it's not so much because she was raped (which is generally seen as [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil one of the vilest acts imaginable]] in Cro-Magnon societies) but because they see the Clan as [[BestialityIsDepraved animals]] and thus see mixed children and those that bear them as "abominations". Notably, Ayla [[DefiedTrope doesn't view herself this way]]; she knows what happened to her was wrong and hates Broud for it, but she refuses to see herself as lesser or tainted because of it. She also thinks it's disgusting that anyone would have this attitude towards a rape victim. Her love interest Jondalar initially has this reaction, but then realises he actually ''can't'' think of Ayla as defiled despite what he grew up believing, instead only feeling sympathy and anger over what happened to her. He still definitely finds her attractive and they go on to fall deeply in love with each other.
69	* DeterminedDoctor: She's a trained medicine woman and feels compelled to help anyone who is sick or injured, both out of compassion and because she considers it a sacred duty. This is perhaps best exemplified in ''The Valley of Horses'', where the first time she meets Jondalar - the first man of her own kind and the first human she has met in years - he has a serious leg wound dealt by a cave lion. Ayla vows that he must live and is able to get Jondalar loaded onto a travois and back to her cave, where she works tirelessly for hours to save both his life and his leg, even coming up with the idea of using stitches to hold the wound shut despite no one having taught her this.
70	* {{Determinator}}: She's been one since she was ''five years old'', managing to walk several miles before collapsing despite being dehydrated, exhausted and running a fever from an infected wound dealt by a cave lion. She later manages to survive for three years, completely alone save for a horse and a lion, in the wilderness. And these are only two examples of her surviving or achieving something through sheer force of will.
71	* DiggingYourselfDeeper: She does this with Brukeval when they first meet. She'd been trying to assure him his Clan heritage didn't bother her and that she actually thought him attractive because of it, and ends up mortally offending him by mistake.
72	* DoubleConsciousness: Particularly at the start of the series, Ayla struggles between her identities as a Clan woman (what she was raised as) and a Cro-Magnon woman (what she was born as). She may have been raised by a clan, but as Iza points out, she isn't truly one of them and can never be due to the biological differences. Despite this, she still holds onto Clan traits, customs and beliefs, even when living amongst her own kind and even when they conflict with her personal values and desires.
73	* DreadfulMusician: Ayla cannot sing at all. She can learn and use rhythms, whistle and imitate birds or animal noises. But with her own voice the best she can do is hum in a tuneless monotone, which Iza used to do to her to comfort her when she was little.
74	* DreamingOfThingsToCome: She seemingly develops this gift after she inadvertently goes with the Mog-urs on a spiritual journey/drug trip at the Clan Gathering.
75	** In the first book, she has visions that imply the extinction of the Neanderthals and the continuing evolution of human society, even up to the modern age (she sees “Boxlike structures...long ribbons of stone...strange animals crawling at great speeds...huge birds that flew without flapping their wings.”).
76	** In the second book she has dreams about a tall man of the Others who has "yellow" hair like hers; it's implied this man is Jondalar, whom she meets a few years later.
77	** In the third book, she dreams she has two sons, one that looks like Durc and another that looks like Jondalar, who are hostile to each other. Ayla knows somehow that one will kill the other, although Mamut states it is merely symbolic – most likely it foreshadows that Neanderthals will eventually die out whilst Cro-Magnon will live on.
78	** All through the fourth book, she dreams of Creb urging her to hurry to her destination – the Ninth Cave of the Zelandonii - and of an overhanging rock. It turns out that she and Jondalar really do need to get a move on if they want to cross the glacier before winter fully ends, as crossing in warmer weather would be near-suicidal. She also discovers at the end that the Ninth Cave’s entrance has an overhanging rock exactly like the one she dreamt of before.
79	* DrivenToSuicide: [[DefiedTrope Defied]]. At the beginning of ''The Valley of Horses'', she briefly considers it out of despair after being banished from her clan, leaving her completely alone in the wilderness. However, she realizes that succumbing to [[spoiler: the death curse]] will mean that [[ArchEnemy Broud]] will win and she determines to make good on her previous BadassBoast that [[WorthLivingFor no matter what else he did to her, he could never make her die]].
80	* DudeMagnet: Almost every man who meets her considers her one of the most beautiful women they’ve ever seen and several of them try flirting with her or getting her into bed with them. This is especially prominent in ''The Mammoth Hunters'', where she has three men (Jondalar, Ranec and Vincavec) vying for her hand. However, this is only amongst her own kind. Amongst the Clan, she’s considered so ugly her own mother believed she’d probably never find a mate.
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83	[[folder: E - L]]
84	* EarnYourHappyEnding: [[spoiler: Good grief, yes, especially considering all she's been through. By the end of the series, Ayla is settled into Zelandonii culture, has fulfilled her destiny as a holy woman/shaman, is HappilyMarried to Jondalar and has the family and sense of belonging she has always longed for]].
85	* EarnedStripes: [[spoiler:When she completes her zelandoni training and receives a vision from the Mother, she is given a tattoo on [[FacialMarkings her forehead]] to mark her as one of the zelandonia]].
86	* ElectiveMute: She is perfectly capable of speech, but she limits herself from doing so when she lives with the Clan, as they have a far more limited capacity for speech and have only a few spoken words. After discovering her son has the capacity for speech too, she plays a private game with him where they make nonsense sounds. When Jondalar first meets Ayla, he believes she may have taken a vow of silence as part of shaman training, [[SubvertedTrope until]] he realises she ''does'' want to talk but just needs to be reminded how.
87	* EveryoneLovesBlondes: She has golden blonde hair and is regarded as extremely attractive to most Cro-Magnon. Even amongst the Clan (where she's regarded as quite ugly and weird-looking by their standards), her blonde hair was seen as beautiful and one of her best features (especially given it was an unusual colour for the clan she lived with, who tend to have darker hair).
88	* FalseSoulmate: To Ranec. He falls head over heels for her in just a few months and is convinced they are meant to be, going as far as asking her to become his mate. Ayla ends up moving in with him, considers staying with the Lion Camp instead of following through with her original plan to move in with the Zelandonii and even agrees to marry him...[[AllLoveIsUnrequited but her heart isn't truly in it]]. She eventually breaks things off with Ranec and goes back to Jondalar, the man she truly loves. Ranec is pretty distraught [[spoiler: but he eventually gets over it somewhat and ends up mating his ex Tricie, whom he was intending to marry before he met Ayla]].
89	* FamilyVersusCareer: She struggles with this in ''The Land of Painted Caves'', especially in the second half of the novel where the demands of her role as an acolyte clash cause her to prioritise it over her family. She herself laments that she feels she's been neglecting her family whilst being caught up in her zelandoni training, which she genuinely enjoys. In the end, [[spoiler: she seems to have worked out a healthy balance between the two; the fact her family are very loving and supportive helps]].
90	* FishOutOfWater: Amongst every culture she comes in contact with. Somehow, [[MagneticHero most of them come to love her anyway]].
91	* FluffyTamer: Mostly with Baby. She treats him like a pet cat or even a child, even when he grows to a massive size, and expresses joy and pride with how big and strong and good at hunting he is. Everyone else is terrified of him and he’s still very dangerous, but to Ayla he'll always be her baby. Downplayed with Wolf, as due to how young he was when Ayla adopted him, he’s more used to people and pretty friendly. Unless, of course, [[BewareTheNiceOnes he feels you’re threatening Ayla]] [[spoiler: as Attaroa finds out the hard way]].
92	* ForeignFanservice: Due to coming from so far away, Ayla is perceived as somewhat 'exotic' no matter where she goes, which serves to highlight her attractiveness. She's apparently from Crimea in Eastern Europe, she having been found on the Crimean Peninsula as a young child.
93	* ForWantOfANail: In the second book, Ayla decides on a whim to take Whinney out for a ride...and so finds and saves Jondalar, the love of her life and the guy she ends up following across Europe, drastically altering the course of her life and affecting many other events in the series.
94	* FriendToAllLivingThings: She has a way with animals, especially horses, wolves and even a ''cave lion''. As a child she would practice her healing skills on injured or sickly animals, although Brun drew the line at letting her bring carnivores into the cave. She can also draw birds to her by feeding them and whistling their songs. Due to animal domestication being in its infancy, many people find Ayla's ability to draw animals to her and bond with them to be a sign of supernatural abilities.
95	* FromZeroToHero: She goes from an orphaned outcast to a widely respected and admired healer and shaman, who helps many people in various ways; in the fourth book she even helps save a whole tribe from a tyrannical leader and restores order.
96	* FuzzTherapy: Part of the reason Ayla adopts Whinney and later Baby is because she herself is desperately lonely (she having been cast out of her clan and unable to find other people); having an animal around to care for and keep her company alleviates her grief and isolation.
97	* GoodParents:
98	** She's a devoted mother to Durc despite her young age, and always speaks of him with [[DotingParent pride and adoration]]. She never saw him as deformed or weak, just different, and was willing to defy Brun to keep him safe. She ensures he will be loved and cared for before being forced to leave him. She also chooses Durc's happiness over her own wish to be with him, deciding he will be better off staying with the Clan than being forced to be with her.
99	** She is a loving mother to Jonayla too and takes good care of her as a baby and toddler. She also won't hesitate to chide Jonayla when she's mean to Bokovan and makes her apologize, though she's not excessively harsh. She does increasingly start to leave Jonayla in Jondalar or Marthona's care as she gets older due to her zelandoni training, though feels guilty about 'neglecting' her.
100	* HairOfGoldHeartOfGold: Played straight. She has golden blonde hair (sometimes described as the colour of "ripe hay" or compared to the dun yellow of Whinney's coat) and is a fundamentally compassionate and well-meaning person.
101	* HappilyAdopted: She had a largely happy upbringing by her adoptive mother Iza and her adoptive uncle/unofficial father, Creb; it was their love and care for her that made her life in the clan bearable. Later, she is HappilyAdopted by the Lion Camp of the Mamutoi.
102	* HappilyMarried: To Jondalar as of the fifth book. [[spoiler: They hit a rough patch in ''The Land of Painted Caves'', due to Ayla being preoccupied with her shaman training and both of them (technically) cheating on each other, but they are reconciled by the end]].
103	%%* HeartWarmingOrphan: Mostly in the first and second books.
104	* HeightAngst: She has some insecurities about her height growing up, because she's ''much'' taller than everyone else in the Clan, which just makes her stick out more when she wants to fit in; the Clan are on average a lot shorter than Cro-Magnon, while Ayla towers over everyone by the time she's a preteen (she's tall even by Cro-Magnon standards, around 5'12" when she's fully grown). She sees her height as just one more unattractive and freakish physical trait... that is, until she meets Jondalar, who she is stunned to realise is even taller than her. When she remarks that she doesn't know why Jondalar would want a "big, ugly woman" like her, Jondalar makes a point of drawing himself to his full height and asking who the big one is now. As Ayla spends more time with other Cro-Magnon and meets some women who are just as tall or taller than her, she stops feeling so self-conscious about her height.
105	* HeroesLoveDogs: More specifically, a wolf she adopts and raises from a cub in ''The Mammoth Hunters''. She loves [[ADogNamedDog Wolf]] to the point she occasionally refers to him as a son and is protective of him, helping other people to see him as more than just a potential threat. She dedicates a lot of time and energy teaching Wolf tricks and obedience, and he helps her hunt and fend off threats once he's big enough.
106	* HeroicBSOD:
107	** She has two in ''The Clan of the Cave Bear''. The first is when Broud begins raping her and the second is when Iza dies; in the second case, she's so distraught that her breast milk dries up and she has to rely on other women to help feed her baby. She gets better both times.
108	** She goes through another major one late in ''The Land of Painted Caves'' after [[spoiler: suffering a miscarriage and finding out Jondalar is cheating on her]], snapping out of it after [[spoiler: she almost dies during a dangerous rite of passage]].
109	* HorseOfADifferentColor: She occasionally rides Baby, her pet cave lion, although she cannot control his movements as she does with Whinney the horse.
110	* HospitalHottie: Stone Age equivalent. She's a highly skilled medicine woman and [[HeadTurningBeauty very beautiful]].
111	* IAmNotPretty: She was regarded as being "big and ugly" by the Clan's standards and continues to see herself as physically unattractive, despite the fact [[HeadTurningBeauty most men of her species see her as incredibly beautiful]].
112	* IdiotBall: You would've thought by the sixth book she'd have learned to stay away from those [[spoiler: psychotropic roots]]. Though to be fair to her, she wasn't in a very stable emotional state at the time.
113	* IJustWantToBeNormal: Often states this, especially in the last few books. Played with in the final novel, where she seems happy enough with her shaman training, but she still enjoys playing happy families with Jondalar and their daughter.
114	* ImperiledInPregnancy: Late in ''The Land of Painted Caves'', [[spoiler:she has a powerful drug-induced vision and unknowingly runs into a series of sacred caves, not long after realising she's pregnant. When she comes back to her senses, she's lost and alone in the caves with no food, water, light or adequate clothing. She's terrified she'll die down in the caves; luckily Wolf finds her and guides her out, but she subsequently realises she's had a miscarriage, much to her sorrow]].
115	* InnocentBlueEyes: She has wide, blue-grey eyes and is kind and pure-hearted. However, her having grey mixed in also hints at her toughness and perceived otherworldliness.
116	* InnocentlyInsensitive: She sometimes comes off this way when interacting with people, even bordering on (unintentional) BrutalHonesty. She never intends to be rude or hurtful, but she tends to say exactly what she thinks and feels, and due to being raised by the Clan and travelling around a lot, she is often ignorant of social norms and customs, which can unintentionally cause offense.
117	* InsecureLoveInterest: To Jondalar, at first, wondering why he'd ever want to be with a "[[IAmNotPretty big and ugly]]" woman like her.
118	* InterspeciesAdoption: She adopts and raises Whinney (a horse), Baby (a cave lion) and Wolf (three guesses as to what he is) from infancy; she adopts Whinney and Wolf after killing their mothers and being unwilling to let them die, and adopts Baby after his mother abandons him. She refers to Baby and Wolf as her "sons" on a few occasions, though she refers to Whinney as her ''[[InterspeciesFriendship friend]]'' rather than her child.
119	* JealousRomanticWitness: [[spoiler:When she walks in on Jondalar and Marona having sex in ''The Land of Painted Caves'', she feels intense jealousy for one of the first times in her life, later admitting that she now finally fully understands Jondalar's reaction when she and Ranec were romantically involved in ''The Mammoth Hunters''. Even though Jondalar immediately ends his affair with Marona and makes it clear he loves Ayla, she's deeply hurt and resentful (especially considering she’s already gone through a lot recently, including a harrowing religious test and a miscarriage, and she's well-aware Marona hates her), and it causes a rift in their marriage that isn't repaired until the end]].
120	* JunglePrincess: Qualifies as one, especially if you believe the Clan are animals (Jondalar has to teach her to speak verbally).
121	* LastGirlWins: For Jondalar. She's the last love interest he meets and the only one (besides Zolena years ago) that he truly falls in love with. [[spoiler: Even when he sleeps with Marona in the sixth book, it’s made abundantly clear that Ayla is the one he loves and he vows never to sleep with anyone but her (which is unusual in the setting)]].
122	* LittleMissBadass: By the time she's ten, she's a very capable huntress, even taking on predators such as lynxes and hyenas, and also survives living alone for a whole month. Prior to that, she also saved a little girl from drowning.
123	* LoveMartyr: She comes across as a bit of one towards Jondalar in ''The Mammoth Hunters''; even when he's being a sullen jerk and emotionally neglecting her for reasons she doesn’t understand, she still loves him and is distraught that he doesn’t seem to love her any longer, wondering if ''she'' did something wrong.
124	* LoveTriangle: With Jondalar and Ranec in the third book.
125	[[/folder]]
126
127	[[folder: M - P]]
128	* MamaBear:
129	** When her newborn son is considered deformed - meaning he must be left to die - Ayla runs away with him to a small cave she had lived in when she was cursed with death a year or so earlier, intending to return after seven days, as if a baby lives that long it must be accepted by the clan's leader. This is despite the fact she is still torn, heavily bleeding and quite weak from her traumatic birth, which almost ''killed'' her. She later stands up to Broud in front of everyone and calls him out when he tries to separate her from her son, and vehemently defends Durc and his half-Clan heritage from her own people.
130	** She's very protective of her animals, some of whom she regards as her children. When her cave lion Baby appears at the Mamutoi Summer Meeting, she flings herself between him and some spear-wielding hunters to protect him despite the dangers. She risks her life to rescue Whinney when she gets caught up in stampede near a cliff. She also freaks out on Jondalar when he (reluctantly) suggests they MercyKill her horses because they can't make it over a glacier (the ice is so sharp it cuts open their hooves) and instead comes up with another solution (leather booties to protect their feet).
131	* MartialMedic: Ayla is both a trained healer and a lethal hunter; she can apply her hunting skills to combat if necessary and she knows how to injure people to disarm or temporarily disable them, without seriously wounding them.
132	* MeaningfulName: Ayla can be used as a variant of the Scottish name Aila, which means "from the strong/resilient place", which is very appropriate for the character given her ability to endure and adapt in the face of great hardship.
133	* TheMedic: She is trained as a medicine woman (healer) by Iza. Although she lacks Iza's racial memories for healing, she has [[TheGift a natural skill]] for it, especially in diagnosis, which Iza encourages and refines through training. Ayla's healing skills often become integral to the story and play a big part in Zelandoni asking her to become her acolyte, so that she can practice medicine as part of the zelandonia.
134	* MerlinAndNimue: The Nimue to Mamut's Merlin in the third book. Unlike some examples of this trope, there's no romance, with Ayla viewing Mamut as a [[ParentalSubstitute father figure]], especially as he [[YouRemindMeOfX reminds her of Creb]].
135	* MinorLivingAlone: In ''The Clan of the Cave Bear'', when she's about ten she lives alone for a whole month after being temporarily cursed with death for using a weapon. In ''The Valley of Horses'', she lives completely alone (discounting her pets) from the age of fourteen to seventeen in steppeland, until she meets Jondalar.
136	* MoreDeadlyThanTheMale: At least in the context of sling hunting while she's living with the Clan. From practicing on her own, she achieves greater mastery over the weapon than Zoug, who is the most skilled sling hunter in the Clan.
137	* MsFanservice: From the second book onwards, she gets described in detail as attractive and has lots of scenes where she's partially dressed or naked (though not all of these are sexual in nature), especially when described from [[MaleGaze Jondalar's perspective]]. She's also featured in ''lots'' of sex scenes.
138	* [[NatureHero Nature Heroine]]: In ''The Valley of Horses'', to an extent. Just about everyone in the setting lives InHarmonyWithNature and worships the [[MotherNature Great Earth Mother]] or totem spirits, but Ayla in particular lives isolated from other humans and lives with animal companions.
139	* NearDeathExperience: In ''every'' novel (save for the fifth one). In the first book ''alone'', she has four or five near death experiences (surviving an earthquake which wiped out her family, surviving a cave lion attack, nearly dying of infection and dehydration, being cursed with death and outrunning an avalanche, and nearly dying in childbirth before being cursed with death ''again'').
140	* NeverForgottenSkill:
141	** She remembers how to swim due to being taught it by her biological family, despite forgetting them after they die in an earthquake and being taken in by the Clan, who can't swim.
142	** She subconsciously remembers how to speak verbally; a few weeks after Jondalar starts teaching her his language, she spontaneously remembers and quickly becomes fluent).
143	* NiceGirl: She's very kind and compassionate to almost everyone she meets and feels bad for even inadvertently offending people.
144	* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: She saves Brac, Broud's son, from a hyena attack. She then gets cursed with death for a month for breaking the Clan's rules about women using weapons, with [[UngratefulBastard Broud]] actually pushing for a permanent curse. That said, because she ''did'' save Brac, Brun decides to only have her banished temporarily rather than permanently to give her a chance.
145	* NubileSavage: Auel goes to great lengths to justify this — Ayla learns to brush her hair with a teasel pod, swims and bathes regularly, eats a varied diet, and even wears a leather band around her explicitly large and turgid (or "full") breasts.
146	* ObliviouslyBeautiful: From the second book onwards, it's made clear she's a stunning beauty who turns the head of every man and most women she crosses path with. Because she was raised among Neanderthals, who have very different standards of beauty, she does not consider herself to be attractive. Although she eventually stops thinking if herself as ''ugly'', she still doesn't grasp the effect she can have on people (particularly men).
147	* OldMaid: She thinks of herself as one in ''The Shelters of Stone''; she's 19 years old when she finally gets married. This is more justified as Clan girls reach menarche at 9 or 10, and it's not unusual for women of the Others to have children by 16.
148	* {{Omniglot}}: Ayla is capable of learning a new language in about a week. Maybe less, due to her upbringing within the Clan, where she had to learn everything quickly to avoid upsetting anyone.
149	* OneTrueLove: Jondalar is all but stated to be her's.
150	* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: To an extent. When she tried to tell Creb her birth name in ''The Clan of the Cave Bear'', he has trouble pronouncing it and 'Ayla' is as close as he can get. She eventually just adopts Ayla as her given name, unable to remember her original name.
151	* OnTheRebound: She begins a relationship with Ranec and nearly marries him almost immediately after she and Jondalar break up in ''The Mammoth Hunters''. It understandably doesn't work out and she gets back with Jondalar.
152	* OrphansOrdeal: Though she's more or less HappilyAdopted, Ayla struggles to adapt to Clan life, and is regarded as quite strange and ugly. She gets into dire trouble for breaking Clan rules and protocols, and then there's villain Broud, the leader's {{Jerkass}} son who hates her guts and does everything he can to make her life ten times harder, up to and including beating her into unconsciousness and raping her. She later gets kicked out of the Clan and has to survive completely alone, with no human contact, for close to ''three years''. All before the age of seventeen, we might add.
153	* PimpedOutDress: Her Matrimonial outfit. We are treated to a [[CostumePorn very detailed description of it]] - among other things, the leather's been specially treated to stay supple, it's been dyed a gold-like colour and has [[GemEncrusted hundreds of amber beads sewn over it in an intricate pattern]]. Everyone who sees it is practically awed. Ayla herself thinks it's very beautiful and it has personal value to her as it was made by people she considered family, but her new in-laws know just from looking that the outfit is fit for someone of very high status because of how long it would've taken to make and the quality of the materials and craftsmanship.
154	[[/folder]]
155
156	[[folder: R - S]]
157	* RaceForYourLove: Near the end of the third book, she finds out Jondalar is preparing to leave the Mamutoi and journey back to the Zelandonii alone, meaning they will probably never see each other again. Even though she's meant to be marrying Ranec, she leaps onto her horse and races after him to stop him. They end up reconciling and leave together.
158	* RankUp:
159	** Due to Iza's increasingly poor health in the second half of the first book, Ayla begins taking on more of her duties as a medicine woman. After Iza's death, the position becomes official.
160	** At the end of the sixth book [[spoiler: she is promoted from acolyte to full zelandoni status after being 'Called' by the Mother. Despite this, she still goes by Ayla, not yet feeling comfortable with giving up her name and going solely by her title]].
161	* RapeAsDrama: In ''The Clan of the Cave Bear'', she is ''repeatedly'' raped by Broud, starting from when she’s only ''[[HarmfulToMinors ten]]''. She eventually comes to terms with it and has positive, consensual sexual relationships; it also results in the birth of her son, Durc.
162	* RebelliousSpirit: She has a habit of challenging or bending social norms and rules, especially within the Clan (which sometimes gets her into trouble).
163	* RefusalOfTheCall:
164	** Ayla ignores Iza's advice to leave the Clan and seek out her own people, being reluctant to leave the only home and family she'd ever known. Of course, by the end of the first book she has [[CantRefuseTheCallAnymore no choice]] but to the leave, due to an [[TheCallKnowsWhereYouLive earthquake destroying the clan's cave]] (''again'') and [[TheCallKnowsWhereYouLive Broud ordering her to be cursed with death]].
165	** When both Mamut and Zelandoni Who Is First realise her potential as One Who Serves the Mother, they both try to persuade her to become their acolyte, feeling it is her destiny. Ayla is pretty reluctant at first, because her abilities frighten her and she just wants to live a normal, peaceful life. However, she eventually accepts that she may be destined for more and becomes Zelandoni's acolyte at the end of the fifth book (having also previously does some informal training under Mamut).
166	* RepressedMemories: Implied. She remembers almost nothing of her life before being found by the Clan and it's suggested that, in addition to being only five when she lost her birth family, she repressed the memories of her early childhood due to [[TraumaInducedAmnesia the trauma of her family dying in an earthquake]].
167	* RescueRomance: With Jondalar, who she saves from a cave lion and [[FlorenceNightingaleEffect nurses back to health]].
168	* ReturningTheWeddingRing: When she decides to call off their impending marriage, Ayla returns the mutii (a carved figurine of the Great Earth Mother) that her Promised Ranec had made for their Matrimonial (the Mamutoi traditionally make a mutii to protect the new hearth they create once they're married). He keeps it as a reminder of her for years afterwards.
169	* RevengeRomance: [[spoiler:Well, revenge flirting and drunken sex. After catching Jondalar cheating on her with Marona, Ayla is so hurt and angry that after drinking too much at a Mother Festival, she takes the opportunity to openly flirt with other men in front of Jondalar, going so far as to have sex with the repulsive Laramar. It ends up making things worse, as Jondalar is so enraged he pulls Laramar off Ayla and beats him up; subsequently he must make restitution. Ayla feels sickened and ashamed in the aftermath, admitting she deliberately went off with Laramar purely to get back at Jondalar, especially because she knew how much they dislike each other, and blames herself for the fall-out. She publicly apologises to everyone for profaning the sacred Mother Festival, although she's let off lightly compared to Jondalar because he was the one who escalated things]].
170	* RunawayBride: At the end of ''The Mammoth Hunters'', on the day of her planned Matrimonial ceremony to Ranec, she changes her mind and decides to go back to [[FirstGuyWins Jondalar]] and journey to his people.
171	* SageLoveInterest: To Jondalar. She's a skilled healer, later trains as a shaman, and has a number of skills and abilities that seem almost supernatural in origin to others, including her inventions, taming animals, incredible memory, dreaming the future etc. (some have more mundane explanations, though others are less easy to explain); Jondalar even thought that she was a manifestation of the Great Earth Mother the first time he saw her. She often gives Jondalar advice or provides him with a different way of looking at things, which is one of the things he admires about her. Interestingly enough, Jondalar in turn helps her with areas she's less knowledgeable in, mostly around Cro-Magnon cultures and social norms (as she was raised by Neanderthals).
172	* ScarsAreForever: After being clawed on the leg by a cave lion as a child, she bears the scars for the rest of her life. She also has a small scar beneath her chin where Creb drew her blood during a ritual, which she retains years later.
173	* ScavengersAreScum: Ayla has a strong aversion to [[HeinousHyena hyenas]], ever since a hyena grabbed a baby during a mammoth hunt. She sees hyenas as scum and will never allow a hyena around. She is otherwise a FriendToAllLivingThings (even those she kills for food). Jondalar, though, does point out that they're [[SubvertedTrope just animals like any other]].
174	* ScreamingBirth: When she gives birth to Durc, she screams herself hoarse, to the point the other clan members are disturbed and upset by her cries. It’s justified because Durc’s a hybrid with an overlarge head and she's only eleven years old, so she’s in agony.
175	* SecondLove: For Jondalar. Although he had ''many'' lovers after losing his FirstLove, Zolena, and cared for some of them, he couldn't ever fall in love with another woman until he met Ayla.
176	* SexWithTheEx: Midway through ''The Mammoth Hunters'', after she and Jondalar have broken up due to misunderstanding each other's feelings, they happen to be alone together and get into an argument. Their frustration and passion boils over and leads to them having sex. Ayla initially thinks this means they can go back to way things were, but Jondalar mistakenly believes he forced himself on Ayla (she hadn't verbally consented and started crying, though in actuality she was enthusiastic about the sex and was crying from happiness). Ayla tries to convince him this isn't the case, but he's too upset to listen. They eventually talk through their issues properly and get back together permanently.
177	* SherlockScan: Downplayed. Due to being raised by people who use sign language as a primary means of communication and teach women to always be attentive to a man's needs, she's [[HyperAwareness quite observant]] and good at reading body language.
178	* SociallyAwkwardHero: {{Downplayed\|Trope}}. Ayla is a total badass when it comes to hunting and healing, but when she's interacting with other people, she sometimes comes across as a bit odd or awkward, due to her mannerisms picked up from the Clan, in particular her tendency to be very honest, which can make her seem rather blunt. However, once people get to know her, they usually warm up to her due to her friendly and compassionate nature, and she feels more comfortable opening up and being herself.
179	* SpeaksFluentAnimal: A very downplayed, mundane version. She cannot ''speak'' to animals per se, but due to having spent a lot of time observing their behaviour and practising their vocalisations, she can more or less communicate with certain animals (mostly the ones she hand-reared from babies) by mimicking their movements and sounds. An example would be letting Wolf jump up and take her jaw in his teeth, then doing the same, as she knows this is how wolves greet packmates.
180	* StartingANewLife: A major part of Ayla's character arc following ''The Clan of the Cave Bear'' is her attempt to build a new life for herself. At the end of the first book, Ayla has little choice but to set out into the unknown and start over after she's banished from her clan, leaving behind the only home and family she's ever known. Luckily, she can take her skills and knowledge with her, which helps her survive alone. She initially tries to follow her mother's advice to find people of her own kind, but in the end one of the Others comes to her, with Jondalar stumbling into the valley where she spent three years carving out a solitary life for herself. With Jondalar's help, Ayla learns more about the Others and initially settles with the Mamutoi, but ultimately decides to follow Jondalar and settle with his people, the Zelandonii, out of love for Jondalar. After a long journey, she finally arrives at the Ninth Cave of the Zelandonii at the end of ''The Plains of Passage'', with ''The Shelters of Stone'' detailing her exploration of and integration with Zelandonii culture.
181	* StatuesqueStunner: She's nearly 6ft tall and very attractive.
182	* SufferTheSlings: Her primary weapon. She first learned how to use a sling after finding a discarded one and watching Zoug teaching the boys how to use them. She secretly practised every day until she was at expert level, just as good, if not better, than the male hunters in the Clan. Even among her own kind, her skill with a sling is nigh unrivalled. She even developed a technique that allows her to fire two stones nearly simultaneously (which may not actually be possible in real life). Her skill with a sling inspires Jondalar to create 'spear throwers' (atlatl).
183	* SupremeChef: She is mentioned as being quite a good cook, she having learned it from Iza, and can make a variety of meals in any weather.
184	[[/folder]]
185
186	[[folder: T - Y]]
187	* TearsOfJoy: When Jondalar kisses and has sex with her following their break-up in the third book, Ayla is so relieved and happy she begins to cry, as she'd believed Jondalar no longer loved her. [[PlayedForDrama Unfortunately]], her reaction leads Jondalar to assume she's crying because she's distressed and he believes she didn't want to have sex, further straining their relationship as Jondalar is filled with self-loathing and avoids her even more to 'protect' her.
188	* TechnicalVirgin: In ''The Valley of Horses'', Jondalar seems to view her as such, due to the fact that her only sexual encounters up to that point involved rape; she had never experienced consensual sex and had no knowledge of sexual pleasure. He's only too happy to show her a magical 'first time'.
189	* TeenPregnancy:
190	** Ayla is actually only eleven when she gives birth to her son. It nearly kills her as a result.
191	** Downplayed when she gives birth to her second child; she's nineteen and it's considered far more usual for Cro-Magnon women to give birth in their late teens.
192	* ThisIsGonnaSuck: Her whole reaction/inner thoughts consist of this when she has to tell Ranec that she's calling off their wedding - she knows he loves her and thinks he's a nice bloke, but she [[AllLoveIsUnrequited just doesn't feel the same way]].
193	* TookALevelInBadass: After she teaches herself to hunt with [[SufferTheSlings a sling]] in ''The Clan of the Cave Bear''. She takes more levels in badass in ''The Valley of Horses'', learning how to hunt with spears, horse-riding and taming a cave lion, in addition to surviving three years in the wilderness without any people to help her.
194	* TragicKeepsake: The cloak she used to carry her son with becomes this for her. She only takes it with her to remind herself of him after she's forced to leave him and she sometimes [[CradleOfLoneliness holds it close to her]] for comfort. She eventually leaves it behind in the third book, when she accepts she will probably never see him again.
195	* TraumaButton:
196	** Ayla freaks out whenever there's an earthquake, even a small tremor, as it triggers her long-repressed memories of the day her biological family were killed in an earthquake. On one occasion, she even reverts to an almost child-like state and instinctively cries out for her mother in a language she can't remember, before it passes.
197	** To a lesser extent, when she goes into labour in ''The Shelters of Stone'', she starts panicking because it brings up her memories of her son's birth, which was extremely painful and nearly killed her. Zelandoni is able to calm her down and reassures her that the birth will be easier this time, because her nineteen year old body is far more equipped to handle giving birth.
198	* TrrrillingRrrs: She has a habit of slightly rolling her 'R's, clearly demonstrated [[FunetikAksent in-text]] in ''The Shelters of Stone'' when she is heard from a Zelandonii character's perspective.
199	* TheUnreveal: [[spoiler: Where she originally came from and who her birth tribe was is never revealed]].
200	* UnusualPetsForUnusualPeople: In the second and third books she adopts a cave lion and a wolf as pets. She also has the more mundane horses, though even having those as pets is considered highly unusual in the setting, as domesticating animals is a new concept many people have never even considered trying or thought possible. Some people say they can believe she can tame horses and maybe even a wolf but draw the line at a lion...until they see her petting said lion and climbing on his back. It marks Ayla as someone who is innovative, willing to go outside the norm, has impressive abilities and a great deal of courage given she shows no fear towards even the predatory animals; even though she often wants to fit in she inevitably stands out, seeing as she's accompanied by her pets almost everywhere she goes.
201	* WhatIsThisThingYouCallLove: Downplayed. When Jondalar [[LoveConfession tells her he loves her]], she has to ask "What is love?" However, it's the word itself, rather than the concept behind it, that she's unfamiliar with: the Clan ''do'' feel love, but they don't have a word for it and instead express affection through their actions.
202	* WhatTheHellIsThatAccent: Her accent is described as being quite strange, to the point where some people believe it to be a minor speech impediment. It's due to being raised by the Clan, who have difficulties pronouncing some words and mostly communicate via sign language.
203	* YouCantGoHomeAgain: Following the events of the first book, Ayla can never return to the clan who raised her for a few reasons. Firstly, she was cursed with death, so everyone in the clan has been conditioned to see her as literally dead and would ignore her as a restless spirit. Secondly, the clan's cave was destroyed by an earthquake. Thirdly, because of the cave's destruction they would need to find a new home and Ayla has no idea where that is. When Ayla is considering trying to find the clan to reunite with her son, she comes against these problems and ultimately realises there's no practical solution around them, accepting that the clan is no longer her home.
204	* YouNoTakeCandle: Talks in this manner when Jondalar is starting to teach her Zelandonii. She soon becomes fluent, though, and speaks with complex grammar. She speaks the S'Armunai language this way, though it's actually impressive she knows it at all (she learnt the basics in a manner of ''days'', simply by listening to and memorizing conversations, and cross-referencing it with Mamutoi, to which it has a similar structure).
205	[[/folder]]

Context Characters / EarthsChildrenAyla