Line #1 Literature/DragonCauldron


1	[[quoteright:201:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Dragon_Cauldron_cover_3930.PNG]]
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3	''Literature/DragonCauldron'' is the penultimate book of the ''Literature/DragonSeries'' by Creator/LaurenceYep. It was first published in 1991 and is a direct sequel to the earlier books, ''Literature/DragonOfTheLostSea'' and ''Literature/DragonSteel''. After ''Dragon Cauldron'', the events in the ''Dragon Series'' are tied up in the final installation, ''Literature/DragonWar''.
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5	After escaping King Sambar XII's undersea palace, [[FiveManBand Shimmer, Thorn, Monkey, Indigo and Civet]] set out to repair Baldy's Cauldron, after it was damaged in the events of ''Literature/DragonSteel''. The five end up on an enchanted island that disables all magic and is impossible to fly or swim away from. A mysterious dog provides them a means of escaping, but doing this unwittingly unleashes the [[BigBad Nameless One]] into the world, an ancient and powerful evil.
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8	!!Tropes:
9	* BigBad: The Boneless King.
10	* GagNose: Shimmer, being a dragon, is rather vain about the length of her snout. When she takes on a human disguise, she gives herself a ridiculously large nose, and because of this, is found out almost immediately.
11	* {{Hellfire}}: Living fire, a kind of LostTechnology entombed with the Nameless One. It can burn underwater.
12	* HeroicSacrifice: Twice: [[spoiler: Civet]] gives up her life to allow the others time to flee, and [[spoiler: Thorn]] sacrifices his soul to repair Baldy's Cauldron.
13	* LostTechnology: Living fire.
14	* MagicCauldron: Baldy's Bowl, which they stole from King Sambar in the previous book, has the power to boil away entire oceans, and hence is the most efficient way to restore the displaced Inland Sea. Unfortunately, the cauldron was cracked in the escape attempt; much of the book revolves around finding a way to fix it.
15	* NoSell: The Boneless King can cast spells that make flight and other magic impossible.
16	* NoWaterproofingInTheFuture: There is a very old tiara set with a pearl that causes the wearer to become possessed by the spirit of a long-dead sorceress. They manage to destroy the pearl by submerging it in wine. Wine is acidic and will dissolve a pearl, but a) not that fast and b) you'd think intensely magical ones would have some kind of protection on them.
17	* PowerSource: Civet used up all her magic powers to wreak havoc on the Inland Sea and River Glen. There's a whole fiasco where she puts on a magic tiara and starts spouting prophecies, with the motivation behind it being to recharge her depleted magical powers.
18	* RedemptionEqualsDeath: [[spoiler:Civet]] sacrifices herself to let the others escape, saying that her debt is paid, which [[spoiler:Shimmer]] later agrees to.
19	* RightHandAttackDog: Snowgoose, the Nameless One's familiar, is a huge red-eyed white dog.
20	* SoulJar: Baldy's Cauldron. Sort of. It's powered by a soul, and the soul that powers it becomes agelessly immortal. However, it comes at the cost of the person losing their bodily form and becoming the actual cauldron, [[AndIMustScream unable to move, speak, or even control the way their soul is going to be used]].
21	* SpeakOfTheDevil: The Nameless One.
22	* TailorMadePrison: The island where the Nameless One and Snowgoose were imprisoned was stripped of all mirrors and other reflective objects to prevent him from gaining any identity, and the magic barrier around the island negated all magic within it and prevented anything and everything from leaving once it entered. Everything, that is, except for clay, to prevent the beach from building up too high. Thorn realizes this when he throws a pebble in frustration, and it passes the barrier.
23	* TortureTechnician: A cheerful and hairy man who believes one should always do one's job well. He's hurt by being called a torturer and prefers the term "facilitator."
24	* TheUnfavourite: Thorn slips down to this spot after the incident with the tiara.

Context Literature / DragonCauldron