Line #6 Literature/MasterOfTheWorld


1	[[quoteright:238:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/master_of_the_world2.jpg]]
2	A 1904 thriller by Creator/JulesVerne, serving as a StealthSequel to Verne's earlier novel [[spoiler: ''Literature/RoburTheConqueror'']]. A mysterious "something" is causing explosions and mysterious lights at the top of a mountain in North Carolina called the Great Eyrie, near the town of Morganton.
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4	Morganton's Mayor Elias Smith is understandably worried and turns to the federal government for assistance. [[LeadPoliceDetective Chief Inspector]] [[TheHero John Strock]] is sent from Washington to get to the bottom of things. Or, rather, the top. Of the Eyrie, that is. He, Smith and some guides make a failed attempt to scale the pinnacle and have to return empty handed. [[DrivingQuestion What is up there]]? Strock returns to Washington and receives a threatening letter, posted from Morganton, warning him to stay away from the Eyrie. The writer is identified only by the initials "M.O.W."
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6	Strock's superior Mr. Ward assigns him to another, seemingly unrelated case. It seems someone calling himself the "Master of the World" has been terrorizing the country using a "tri-phibian" vehicle called the ''Terror'', which can, at will, go on land as a car, in the sea as a submarine and in the air as an airship, transforming effortlessly between all three. It's going to be Strock's job to discover who is doing this and why. He quickly makes the connection between this vehicle and the incident at the Eyrie, realizing it was the ''Terror'''s commander who threatened him.
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8	An attempt to arrest the crew of the ''Terror'' near Lake Erie ends with one of Strock's men wounded by gunfire, and Strock himself tangled in the mooring line and dragged after the escaping ''Terror'' when its crew flees the authorities. Strock blacks out and thinks he has drowned... only to later awaken safe and sound in a cabin on board, having been rescued by the criminals for some unknown reason. But now he is a prisoner on board the mysterious vessel! Who is the ''Terror'''s mysterious inventor and commander, and what dire plans does he have for the captive policeman?
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10	It was adapted into a [[Film/MasterOfTheWorld film]] starring Creator/CharlesBronson and Creator/VincentPrice.
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13	!!''Master of the World'' shows examples of the following tropes:
14	* AliensInCardiff: The eerie phenomena occur mainly in North Carolina, Wisconsin, Kansas, and the Great Lakes. (Of course, those locales would seem a good deal more exotic to your typical French reader, and thus to Verne himself.)
15	* TheBigRace: The ''Terror'' appears during one in Wisconsin.
16	* ByTheBookCop: Our hero, John Strock.
17	* CoolBoat: The ''Terror'', a streamlined, super-fast motorboat camouflaged so as to be almost invisible on the waves. Press a button and it becomes a submarine.
18	* CoolCar: The ''Terror'', an armored car that can go twice as fast as any other vehicle on the road.
19	* CoolPlane: The ''Terror'', an ornithopter with retractable wings. Seeing a pattern here?
20	* DaChief: Mr. Ward, Strock's boss.
21	* DarkerAndEdgier: The novel's often held up as an example of how Verne, in his later years, became more and more pessimistic about humanity's use of science and technology.
22	* TheDragon: [[spoiler:John Turner, another returning character from ''Robur the Conqueror'']].
23	* DrivingQuestion: What the heck's going on at the Great Eyrie?
24	* LeadPoliceDetective: Strock, of course.
25	* MadScientist: The Master of the World is a brilliant inventor. Pity he's also a monomaniac...
26	* OldRetainer: Strock's housekeeper has been in the family for years.
27	* OneSteveLimit: Averted. Not only is Strock's first name John, but there is also [[spoiler:Robur's right-hand man [[TheDragon John Turner]]]] as well as one of Strock's fellow police officers, John Hart. However since all of the characters are on a LastNameBasis, it never becomes confusing which John is which.
28	* TheReveal: When we discover that the Master of the World is none other than [[spoiler:Literature/RoburTheConqueror]].
29	* SkyPirate: The Master of the World himself, when the ''Terror'' is in flight mode.
30	* StealthSequel: We don't find out until very late indeed that the book's actually a sequel to [[spoiler:a previous Verne novel, ''Literature/RoburTheConqueror'']].
31	* SubmarinePirates: The crew of the ''Terror''.
32	* SuddenNameChange: If you remember Tom Turner from [[spoiler:the Verne novel ''Literature/RoburTheConqueror'']], you'll wonder why he's referred to as ''John'' Turner here.
33	* SwissArmyWeapon: The ''Terror'''s mutability is why it's seen as so much of a threat.
34	* TransformingMecha: The ''Terror'', a flying machine that can also become a boat, a sub, or an armored car, is probably the UrExample. Sadly, Verne being the stickler for realism that he was, the world had to wait another half-century for Japanese creators to come up with the now-ubiquitous humanoid robot mode.
35	* TheUnreveal: Strock learns a whole lot less about the ''Terror'' and its inventor than he had hoped.
36	* USMarshal: Strock, a federal law officer sent out on farflung missions, fulfills this type of role. (Verne doesn't actually use the word "marshal," and is vague on the details of how American law enforcement works, but the idea is there.)

Context Literature / MasterOfTheWorld