Line #3 Literature/NecessaryEvil


1	[[quoteright:301:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/necessary_evil.jpg]]
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3	The third and final book of ''Literature/TheMilkweedTriptych''.
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6	!! ''Necessary Evil'' contains examples of:
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8	* AlternateHistory: Another alternate history - an in-universe alternate timeline from the alternate history of ''Literature/BitterSeeds''. In this one, Gretel makes sure the war mostly plays out like in ''our'' history.
9	* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:The warlocks are dead and humanity is saved. Marsh-2 gets to live out his life with Liv and their daughter. Marsh-1 however has to go into hiding alone overseas as he's a wanted man, and Will has been murdered by Gretel.]]
10	* BroughtDownToNormal: [[spoiler:Gretel, and twice to add insult to injury; once, when the interference of two timelines stops her predicting that Liv would be rescued from the bombing of Coventry, and finally when she has her wires removed by both Marshes at the end of the story.]]
11	* CharacterTics: Marsh[[subscript:1]] eventually gives himself away to Will by his habit of cracking his knuckles against his jaw.
12	* DramaticDrop: Gretel scalds herself with boiling water when she drops a kettle the first time her prediction goes wrong.
13	* HistoricalInJoke: Gretel is apparently responsible for the Germans' slow response to the Dunkirk evacuation, and for otherwise making sure the Second World War actually happens in the way we remember it happening.
14	* IHatePastMe: [[spoiler: Marsh becomes disturbed when meeting his younger self and realizes how much of a self-righteous abrasive JerkAss he was and how this is how people see him.]]
15	* IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: Marsh[[subscript:1]] forgoes life with Olivia so that Marsh[[subscript:2]] will have the happy marriage they never had.
16	* ThisCannotBe: [[spoiler:Gretel suffers a VillainousBreakdown on discovering Liz survived the bombing of Coventry.]]
17	* MultipleNarrativeModes: Most of the book is in third-person, but Marsh[[subscript:1]]'s POV sections are in first-person. This helps to avoid confusing the two Marshes...
18	* MyFutureSelfAndMe: 2 × Raybould Marsh.
19	* NiceJobBreakingItHero:
20	** Marsh[[subscript:1]] misses a chance to contact Will because Will turns up at the police station in response to a call that his billfold has been stolen, tells the police it must be a practical joke (as he still has his 1940's billfold), then leaves without even looking at the mysterious stranger who was caught with it. His Milkweed boss tears strips off him for this when it's later assumed that Marsh[[subscript:1]] is a German spy.
21	** Marsh[[subscript:1]] later sleeps in, missing his second and last chance to intercept Will before he recruits the warlocks.
22	* PayEvilUntoEvil: [[spoiler:Gretel's exile; the island is too windswept to allow wildflowers to grow (Gretel's hobby), and the last words of both Marshes are to inform Gretel that her brother Klaus is dead.]]
23	* RealityWarper: The Eidolons. Shown in detail when Will summons an Eidolon for Marsh[[subscript:2]] in Berlin. After 7000 heartbeats in close proximity to an Eidolon, Marsh[[subscript:2]] starts losing his grip on how reality actually works.
24	* RippleEffectIndicator: When Marsh[[subscript:1]] tries to shoot Marsh[[subscript:2]] in the knee and ''fails'', their knee pain suddenly goes away.
25	* SealedRoomInTheMiddleOfNowhere: [[spoiler:At the end of the book Gretel is abandoned on a tiny windswept island off the Scottish coast, with her food being resupplied every six months.]]
26	* SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong: Gretel's plan was to create a timeline in which the Eidolons do not kill her or humanity.
27	* TeleFrag: Marsh[[subscript:1]] kills the twins this way.
28	* TimeTravelersAreSpies: Marsh[[subscript:1]] ends up in wartime London with another man's wallet and no period currency. Naturally, he's suspected of being a German spy. Fortunately he's then released in a TrickAndFollowPloy. As he really is a spy, but a British one and so familiar with London, he's able to evade his followers.
29	* TrustPassword: Needed to enter Milkweed. Fortunately for Marsh[[subscript:1]], they're the same as in his timeline.
30	* TheUriahGambit: Marsh[[subscript:1]] steals the blood samples of the warlocks and puts it in the box used for the teleportation, so the warlocks will be unexpectedly transported (along with the commando team) to the war zone, where he can more easily arrange their demise.
31	* VillainousBreakdown: [[spoiler:Gretel when she realizes that she no longer has a perfect view of the potential timelines.]]

Context Literature / NecessaryEvil