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You know the old saying: "One Riot, One Ranger".
Commandant Crowley, Erak's Ransom.

In a medieval Europe much like ours but with all of the names changed, the young orphan Will becomes apprenticed to the elite Ranger Corps of Araluen after being rejected by the knights' Battleschool due to his small stature. Rangers, their work shrouded in secrecy and camouflaging cloaks, resemble nothing so much as a cross between Robin Hood and the CIA. Will discovers that being a Ranger is not only as exciting and heroic as being a knight, it is also something he excels at.

Then he learns the Big Bad is about to invade his country, has sent killer animal monsters after his beloved mentor Halt, and would like to kill every single Ranger (and Ranger apprentice) while he's at it. Things go downhill for Will from there.

Rather than just being about battles between good and evil, most of the books have the protagonists use not just martial prowess, but also stealth, cunning, and sometimes diplomacy to defeat their enemies. The author says he began writing the series to demonstrate to his then-small young son that you didn't have to be big and strong to be heroic. Later books have a fair amount of mystery mixed in with the action, and the settings for the adventures range from the icy North to the scorching desert.

Books in the Series:

  • The Ruins of Gorlan (2004)
  • The Burning Bridge (2005)
  • The Icebound Land (2005)
  • Oakleaf Bearers (The Battle for Skandia in the US) (2006)
  • The Sorcerer of the North (2006)
  • The Siege of Macindaw (2007)
  • Erak's Ransom (2007) (takes place in the Time Skip between books four and five)
  • The Kings of Clonmel (2008)
  • Halt's Peril (2009)
  • The Emperor of Nihon-Ja (2010)
  • The Lost Stories (2011)
  • The Royal Ranger (2013)
  • The Tournament at Gorlannote 
  • The Battle of Hackham Heath note 
  • The Royal Ranger 2: The Red Fox Clannote 
  • The Royal Ranger 3: Duel at Araluen
  • The Royal Ranger 4: The Missing Prince

John Flanagan has announced that he plans to end the series there. Considering he said the same thing about the tenth book (and the twelfth!), some fans hold onto hope that there will be more. It also produced a Spin-Off, the Brotherband Chronicles.

Beware, spoilers for Books 1-7 are UNMARKED


This series provides examples of:

    open/close all folders 

    A-C 
  • Abhorrent Admirer: Keren to Alyss. She makes very clear while rejecting his proposal that she could never love someone who betrayed his country — and that's not even bringing up the fact that he's been using Hypnotize the Captive on her.
  • The Ace: Will is said to be one of the most skilled Rangers alive, and Horace is a Master Swordsman on par with the very best.
  • Action Girl: Downplayed for Evanlyn/Princess Cassandra and Alyss. While both fit better into the Action Survivor mold compared to the combat-oriented male protagonists, they still get moments that show they're far from helpless. In Book Seven, Evanlyn single-handedy takes down the Big Bad with her slingshot. Alyss starts out as a noncombatant who carries a knife mainly for show, but after her stint as a Damsel in Distress in Book 6, she starts learning to use a saber and swaps her ornamental dagger out for something more useful. Madelyn later becomes a true action girl as the first female apprentice in the Ranger Corps.
  • Action Survivor: Malcolm and Alyss are both this trope, as neither is much of a fighter (even in Book 10, Alyss is described and shown as being a mediocre swords-woman at best).
  • Actually Pretty Funny: Cassandra's reaction to learning that Halt was banished for drunkenly insinuating that her father was illegitimate (among other things) is to double over laughing and declare that, given how horrible her grandmother was, she wouldn't be surprised if that really was the case.
  • Alas, Poor Villain: Sir Keren is genuinely regretting his actions even before things start going badly for him. You almost feel he can be redeemed with time, right up until his Family-Unfriendly Disney Villain Death.
  • Always Chaotic Evil: The Picta and the Temujai, among others. Justified by the protagnoists dealing almost entirely with soldiers in invading armies.
    • This is later subverted for the Picta when the current Big Bad slaughters a family of Pictish farmers who were minding their own business, which is treated as a major Kick the Dog moment.
    • The Tualaghi in Book Seven. They're nomads, like the allied Bedullin, but instead of traveling from oasis to oasis like the Bedullin, the Tualaghi travel from town to town, use up most of their supplies and then just leave, leaving the townspeople with barely enough to scrape by.
  • Always Identical Twins: Halt and Ferris. Of course, the latter is the Evil Twin. Also, while they were presumably identical as boys, it is noted that their differing life experiences have made them appear quite different at first glance.
  • Ambadassador: Cassandra, an Action Girl who's also a very perceptive and skilled diplomat. Just ask Selethen.
  • Annoying Arrows: Averted—these arrows are plenty lethal. Individual Rangers do a great deal of damage, a small group of rangers are a deadly force unto themselves, and even relatively small groups of archers consistently have major impacts on the outcome of battles.
    • It is somewhat played straight in the first book with the wild boar and Kalkara, but even these are reasonably justified. Wild boars are incredibly difficult to bring down, and the reason boar spears feature a crossbar beneath the head is to prevent boars from just running straight down the spear and goring the wielder. The Kalkara are somewhere between apes and bears, and are established to be remarkably difficult to injure at all throughout the book.
  • The Artefact: By the prequel books, the Wargals become this. In the original books, they (and the Kalkara) feel like normal parts of this fantasy world, but once the Kalkara are defeated in book 1 and the Wargals flee in book 2, this marks the departure of any explicit fantasy elements. That's not to say there are no hints of fantasy in the later books — the horses are the most prominent example, but others include the Fantastic Drug "warmweed", Kellen's oddly effective and quick hypnosis, and a cougar in the Fantasy Counterpart of England — but overall, the books take a turn into feeling as though they could have happened on Earth, so much so that by book 5 Crowley and Halt are already pretty much dismissing magic out of hand. This means that when the Wargals reappear in the prequels, the existence of a telepathically-controlled race of ape-men feels out-of-place in an otherwise-grounded world, but they have to be there due to the period the prequels cover.
  • Artifact Title: Zigzagged. Will is a full-fledged Ranger in books five and six, then book seven goes back to show his actual promotion. Eight continues with Silverleaf!Will until book 12, where title character-privilege shifts to Will's new apprentice.
  • Artistic License – Martial Arts: In general, averted, as the author is pretty good about showing their work. However, played straight in a few stories when it's mentioned that Halt "always watched an enemy's eyes." As any trained combatant will know, this tells you little to nothing in combat situations. People don't attack with their eyeballs (well, not in this universe, anyway), and a trained fighter can easily attack without glancing at their target.
    • In Book 10, Alyss says that physical strength plays a large part in combat, and that she could never train to be as good as Horace in combat. While she's not entirely wrong, any Action Girl could tell you that sufficiently trained women are capable of dealing out plenty of havoc. However, in this case the trope is somewhat-justified as she's using it as an excuse to go on an ambassadorial mission to the Hasanu.
  • Attack! Attack! Attack!: Skandian battle tactics generally boil down to this. When they try some more advanced strategies, the Temujai are thoroughly taken by surprise.
  • Automaton Horses: Averted. The special Ranger horses may be able to run for incredible amounts of time without rest (Ranger horses are specifically bred for endurance and intelligence), but it's pointed out as early as book one that even they need periods of recovery. In addition, Will's horse Tug isn't afraid to get into the fight if he sees his master in trouble, which is also shown as early as book one.
    • A Ranger will almost always put their horse's safety far above their own. For the horses, there is no "almost".
  • Badass Teacher: Almost every mentor in the book, including Mr. Chubb, the cook. Horace only half-jokingly suggests that he should give ladle-whacking lessons to Battleschool students.
  • Bad Boss: Every villain in the story (with the arguable exception of Keren) is this trope, while all of the good leaders are reasonable authority figures.
  • Bait-and-Switch:
    • In Book 3, it looked as if Horace would have a final duel with Deparnieux, echoing Book 2. Instead, Halt duels him (and beats him pretty easily).
    • At the end of Book 4, King Duncan revals that he's heard about Horace's adventures as "the Oakleaf Knight" in Gallica. Horace hasn't been properly knighted yet and shouldn't have been using a knightly title (as he lampshaded in the previous book). It looks like Horace will have to be punished, but Duncan instead knights him and inducts him into the newly-created Order of the Oakleaf, making his Oakleaf Knight moniker legitimate.
    • The beginning of Book 12 has an older, bearded Ranger who pulls a Stealth Hi/Bye and grimly interrogates a prisoner before putting him down hard in a fight. Sounds like Halt? Sure, but it's actually Will, who at this point is a Broken Ace.
  • Bash Brothers: Will and Horace develop into this.
    • Halt and Crowley were also this trope during the prequel series, though nowadays Crowley is mostly stuck behind a desk.
  • Berserk Button: Plenty.
    • For Will - don't hurt Tug. Don't try to kill Halt.
    • For Horace - Has surprisingly few, but don't disrespect or hurt his friends.
    • For Halt - Old Joe Smoke. Don't play it. Also, don't hurt Will, or Horace, or Abelard (or, presumably, Gilan). And don't be an idiot. And do NOT insult Lady Pauline. You will be thrown in the moat. Finally, (though this is mostly Played for Laughs) anyone mentioning his seasickness would do well to safeguard their helmet. Halt's vomit can really stain. In fact, just don't mention it at all. Especially since you never know if he might be right behind you...
  • The Berserkers: Skandians, since they're Vikings by another name.
  • Big Brother Instinct: A fairly mild example, but Horace and Will have this in regards to each other, and Gilan has this in regards to Will.
  • Big Damn Heroes: In the backstory, Halt is this when he leads the cavalry in the Battle of Hackham Heath.
    • Will's father is also this in the backstory, saving Halt's life.
    • Will and Evanlyn are this in Book 2 when they burn the bridge down.
    • Halt and Horace are this in Book 4 to Will and Evanlyn and just barely manage to get their in time, as per the usual for this trope.
      • Subverted with Halt for Will in Book 2 and Halt and Horace for Will and Evanlyn in Book 3
      • Played straight in Book 4 with Halt, Horace, Will, and Evanlyn in regards to the entire Skandian race.
  • Bilingual Bonus: Quite a few, actually.
    • Halt's frequently-assumed pseudonym, "Arratay", is pronounced suspiciously close to "arretez". Guess what it means. It means "stop!" Or... Halt.
    • In the Lost Stories (a collection of short stories mostly focused on the events after Book Ten), two Genovesans named Mordini and Serafino are sent to assassinate Cassandra. Their names are Italian for "Devil" and "Seraph" (a class of angel).
  • Bitch Slap: Morgarath slaps Erak after he finds out Erak has captured Will and lied to him about it.
  • Bittersweet Ending: The Tournament at Gorland. Morgarath's plan to make himself the royal heir is thwarted, but he escapes into the Mountains of Rain and Night, where he begins bending the warghuls to his will. Furthermore, King Oswald's health is failing; the heroes still have to get enough evidence and allies to win the trial, and Morgarath's forces surprise and kill Pritchard on their way out.
  • Black-and-White Morality: This holds true in early books, where the protagonists are unambiguously good and their enemies Obviously Evil. Later books shift more toward Gray-and-Gray Morality, showing that the heroes aren't always on the straight and narrow while the villains become more sympathetic or get the occasional Villain Has a Point moment.
  • Bodyguard Crush: Cassandra and Horace. Though the crush started to develop even before Horace became Cassandra's bodyguard (he had already saved her a couple of times at this point).
  • Book Dumb: Horace can come across as this. However, it's averted in later books, where it's shown he's well-studied in military tactics, warfare, and courtly protocols; it's just that his knowledge base tends to be inapplicable in most situations the main characters are shown dealing with, which usually require the Guile Hero approach.
  • Boom, Headshot!: Well, more like "Thwack, Headshot"; since this is set long before the invention of modern firearms. And, surprisingly enough, it's not a Ranger that makes the epic headshot in Book Seven that took down the Tualaghi warlord. It was Evanlyn/Princess Cassandra with her sling.
  • Bow and Sword in Accord: Gilan. He's the only Ranger trained in swordsmanship. This is Justified because most Rangers don't have time to study other weapons as well, but he had studied the sword for several years before joining the Corps.
  • Brick Joke: In Book Three, Halt tells Horace the girls in short skirts they see in Gallica are couriers, reasoning that he's letting the boy keep his innocence a while longer. Horace calls him on it in Book Eight.
    • In Book 2, Gilan sarcastically tells Will that, if he's confronted with an angry axeman on top of a cliff and his bow is broken, to jump off the cliff. In Book 11, this exact situation occurs, which is lampshaded by Will.
    • In Book 1, Will tries to shoot a longbow without wearing an armguard, and gets hurt. This comes up again when he's teaching Maddie, who makes fun of him for it.
    • A very subtle one in Book 11: One of the items the modern-day archaeologists find is a cracked ladle. Perhaps because it was used to hit people over the head a lot of times?
  • Brought Down to Normal: In Book Four, Will is still suffering the aftereffects of drug addiction and has lost his Ranger conditioning.
  • Cain and Abel: Ferris and Halt, with the latter being the Abel-though, thankfully, he survived.
  • Call-Back:
    • In Book 4, as part of his knighting, Horace is inducted into the Order of the Oakleaf, which Duncan created in honor of his "Oakleaf Knight" alias from Book 3.
    • Mention is made of the events in Macindaw in Book 9, serving as a Chekhov's Gun (see below).
    • Arald calls back to Cassandra's capture in Book 7 when encouraging Duncan to let her have her own adventures.
    • In Book 11, Will remembers Gilan's advice about dealing with an angry axeman.
  • Cannot Spit It Out: A hopelessly-complicated mutual example with Will and Alyss at the end of Book Six.
  • Cannot Tell a Joke: Inverted by Baron Arald. He keeps telling jokes—pretty good ones, at that—but everyone takes him too seriously all the time to get them. Lady Pauline and Lady Sandra get them, but choose not to laugh.
  • Character Development: Lots.
    • Will grows from an insecure boy whose only ambition is to follow in his dceased father's footsteps to a confident young man who's found his own path as a Ranger.
    • Horace matures from a Jerk Jock into a Lovable Jock, then slowly learns that his idealism sometimes needs to take a backseat in favor of pragmatism.
    • Halt gradually becomes (somewhat) warmer and more affable as he grows into the role of father figure to Will and Horace.
    • Evanlyn/Cassandra matures from a sheltered princess into a capable leader who lives by her merits rather than her status and later becomes The High Queen.
    • In later books, Alyss struggles with jealousy over Evanlyn/Cassandra's close friendship with Will, which isn't helped by the fact that Evanlyn did show genuine romantic interest in him at one point. It ends with Evanlyn cornering her into talking through it and Alyss realizing how irrational she was being, after which she gets along with Evanlyn much better.
  • Characterization Marches On: In Book 4, Duncan's mother is mentioned by Cassandra as having "a face like a robber's dog, and a temperament to match." The second prequel, however, has a short POV sequence from the Queen Mother's point of view, which seems to portray her as a kind and gentle woman. Of course, it's possible that this is justified-either she became nastier later in life, or Cassandra just disliked her for some reason, or perhaps she really is that nasty and just doesn't realize it herself-POV sequences aren't always honest, after all.
  • Chekhov's Gun:
    • Evanlyn's/Princess Cassandra's new belt and necklace in Book Seven. (Not quite a literal gun, but a sling at least.)
    • Also, Horace points out Macindaw in Book 9, and Will later rides there to recruit Malcolm.
  • Chekhov's Skill: In The Burning Bridge, Will and Horace are taught the double knife defense. Near the end, Horace uses the skill to win a duel against Morgarath.
  • Chekhov's Army: The Temujai, used as a throwaway name early in the first book, come back in painful force in Book Four.
  • Chick Magnet: Horace, particularly after book 6. Add that he's one of Araluen's finest warriors and renowned heroes...oh, boy.
    "There were quite a few young ladies of the kingdom who felt [a scar on his cheek] enhanced his appearance, rather than the opposite."
    • Also lampshaded by Halt.
      "Halt never ceased to be fascinated by the way women, young or old, big or small, could not resist the temptation to feed Horace."
  • Coming of Age Story: For Will. It does not stop the series from being for children, though, as there is no Audience Shift.
  • Complexity Addiction: Morgarath would be a much better Chessmaster if he didn't suffer from this.
  • Continuity Snarl: In Book 6, Will and Horace take Castle Macindaw with twenty-seven Skandians. In Book 10, Halt mentions that they took it with "thirty men." Twenty-seven Skandians, plus Will and Horace-he could be rounding up, right? But then Horace corrects him to thirty-three. Are they counting Malcolm, Trobar, and Xander?
  • Contrived Coincidence: Hoo, boy. In the prequel series, Halt and Crowley just happen to waylay one of Morgarath's messengers, who is conveniently carrying a letter from Morgarath to one of his supporters, laying out all of his plans in detail. In the best traditions of this trope, it's not even coded at all.
  • Covered in Scars: Deconstructed, as many expert warriors note that someone who has a face full of scars is more likely someone who doesn't know when to duck than a truly badass fighter.
  • Combat Pragmatist: Will. Most of the Rangers, actually, considering the great majority of them carry little more than a bow and quiver, saxe knife, and throwing knife. This is contrasted with the chivalry of the knights. Horace grows into this a little as he matures, though he still prefers to win fights honourably if he can.
  • Crusading Widow: Will becomes this in Book 12 after finding out his wife died in an inn fire trying to save a child trapped inside. He becomes absolutely obsessed with finding out who set the inn on fire so he can take his revenge.

    D-K 
  • Darker and Edgier: Book 9, in which Halt is mortally wounded by a poisoned arrow. He gets better, but his recovery is Played for Drama, and it looked as if the author would be invoking Anyone Can Die.
  • Deadpan Snarker: The series thrives on this trope, practically all important characters are this.
  • Death by Childbirth: Queen Rosalyn has a very difficult pregnancy with her and Duncan's first child, Cassandra. The more-than-sixteen-hours-long birth is the final straw that completely breaks her health and leaves her in a condition wherein both she and Crowley recognize she won't make it.
  • Deliberate Values Dissonance: While Book 12 suffered critiques for the rather poor handling of Will's mental health following Alyss' death, this was a time period well before depression or any such mental illnesses were recognized as such. People died all the time, and the survivors were expected to just accept it and move on.
  • Don't Explain the Joke: Baron Arald suffers from this on occasion, since his jokes often go over the heads of those he tells his jokes to. Played straight in the fact that he does this in the presence of Lady Pauline, who actually does get the jokes but chooses not to laugh.
  • The Drunken Sailor: The majority of Skandians fit this trope.
  • Early-Installment Weirdness: The first couple books were more of a typical fantasy series with supernatural elements, while the later ones quickly developed into an adventure series that basically takes place in a differently-named version of our world.
  • Emotion Bomb: Morgarath and his creatures.
  • Enemy Scan: Horace and Selethen have one of these moments, which also doubles as an Establishing Character Moment for the latter.
    "As Horace passed Selethen, the two warriors eyed each other and like recognized like. Selethen saw the broad shoulders, the tapered hips, and the easy balanced stride. A long straight sword hung at the Araluen's belt. This one I understand, thought Selethen. He would make a dangerous enemy. At the same time, Horace was taking in the slim build, the athletic movement, and the long curved sword that hung at Selethen's side. This one would be a bit of a handful, he thought.
    They were both right."
  • Even Evil Has Standards: All but named in The Royal Ranger, when one of Ruhl's sidekicks points out that Jory taunts Will with a flame while he's at a stake, ready to be burnt. "Even the most hardened criminal" wouldn't go that far, considering why exactly Will is being burnt.
  • Evil Twin: One of these pops up for Halt in Book Eight, although with a bit of a subversion.
  • The Exile: Happens to Halt. He invokes it on purpose so he can go and search for Will, who was captured by the Skandians. It's later revealed in Book 8 that he exiled himself from home after his brother tried to kill him one too many times.
  • Fake King: Inverted when Halt dresses up as King Ferris of Clonmel. Ferris is the acting king, but the twin brother who's impersonating him was born first and never formally abdicated when he fled the kingdom to avoid Ferris's assasination attempts, making him the rightful king and Ferris a usurper. In short, the rightful king ends up impersonating the Evil Twin who stole his throne.a more detailed explanation 
  • Fallen Princess: Madelyn becomes this in The Royal Ranger when her parents, at their wit's end over how to deal with her headstrong, self-centered behavior, resort to disinheriting her. This news finaly shakes Madelyn out of her haughty attitude, and she spends the rest of the book steadiy undergoing Character Development. By the end, her parents decide she's earned the right to be reinstated.
  • Family-Unfriendly Death:
    • In Book Six, Sir Keren gets acid thrown in his face and then falls through a tower window to the flagstones below.
    • The fake prophet from Books Eight and Nine, Tennyson, gets hit with a box full of grenades, falls off a cliff, and gets crushed/impaled by falling rocks.
    • The Kalkara in Book One. The first gets stabbed by two lances, then is thrown onto a bonfire and is instantly incinerated. The second gets shot with a flaming arrow, and burns alive.
      • Similarly from Book Twelve, Jory Ruhl gets burned to death by the bonfire he set up to kill Will in the same way.
  • Fantasy Counterpart Culture: Araluen = England, Gallica = France, Celtica = Wales, Hibernia = Ireland, Picta = Scotland, Teutlandt = Germany, Arrida = North Africa (likely Tripoli), Skandia = Scandinavia, Nihon-Ja = Japan, Iberion = Spain, Toscana = Rome/Italy, the unnamed Temujai country, referred to as the Eastern Steppes = Mongolia (Genghis Khan's name was Temujin), Indus (briefly mentioned in Book Ten) probably = India, etc. A map appears in later books that is reminiscent of a early map of the Old World. These all really could really be seen just as Fantasy Counterpart Cultures.
  • A Fate Worse Than Death: Yusal, who is reduced to a drooling idiot due to Evanlyn's headshot.
  • Final Solution: The Temujai are conquering warriors who don't take prisoners or keep slaves. Either you submit to their rule and become part of their empire, or they wipe you out and claim the lands that formerly belonged to you.
  • First Girl Wins: Alyss, for Will. She was his childhood friend, and while he had temporary Ship Tease with Cassandra, Alyss is the only woman he ever shows real romantic interest in.
  • Foreshadowing:
    • When he first meets Evanlyn in Book 2, Gilan notices some slips in her story and surmises that she's a noblewoman who's assumed the identity of one of her servants to avoid unwanted attention. Later, he's proven right when he realizes she's actually Princess Cassandra and was using the name of her maid, who was killed by Wargals.
    • In Book 3, Halt backs up his challenge of Deparnieux by claiming to be Hibernian nobility and in line for the throne, to boot. When Horace questions him, he simply says that Deparnieux can't prove he's lying. Book 8 confirms that he was telling the truth about being Hibernian nobility, but was downplaying his status — he's actually the rightful heir to the throne.
    • In Book 5, Will's first attempt to explore the forest where Malcom lives ends when he's scared off by strange noises and apparitions. A later investigation confirms that they're all the product of primitive stage tricks. Those same tricks are later used to disguise Will's messages to Alyss and on a larger scale to distract and frighten Macindaw's garrison during the titular siege in Book 6.
  • Gang of Bullies: The group standing behind the transformation of Horace's character.
  • Genre Shift: The series begins in classic fantasy style—young orphaned hero has to fight against an evil sorcerer controlling an army of monsters. However, in later books, there's not a shred of the fantastic to be seen. One story deals with a plot about an old man using primitive science to fake magic. Strangely, it works.
  • Gentle Giant: Trobar, and, to a slighter degree, Horace.
  • The Good King: Duncan.
    • Erak after Book 4.
    • Shigeru has this in spades, to the point where he becomes a Parental Substitute to Horace and direct comparisons are drawn between him and Duncan.
  • Graceful Loser: In Book 7, after Evanlyn/Cassandra cleverly establishes that circumstances have changed to the point where Selethen owes her money rather than the other way around, Selethen concedes that he's been outwitted and is genuinely impressed by Cassandra's skill as a negotiator. Cassandra then proves herself a graceful winner by foregoing the reward for Yusal and offering a decent sum to compensate both Selethen and the Bedullin for their trouble. Erak is impressed with her generosity until she reminds him that he's going to repay that money to her father, leaving him with a sinking feeling as he resigns himself to holding up his end of the bargain.
  • G-Rated Drug: Warmweed. It fills a person's body with a sensation of warmth, which makes it popular among the yard slaves in ever-frigid Skandia. Unfortunately, it's also addictive, and people who take it for too long lose all sense of self and become shambling wrecks who numbly follow orders and only care about when they'll get their next dose. The addiction can be broken, but addicts have to be gradually weaned off of the drug, or withdrawal could kill them. While Will is being weaned off of warmweed, he's completely reliant on Evanlyn for even simple tasks like making food, because he simply doesn't care about anything but the drug.
  • Grey-and-Gray Morality: Later books in the series start to feature this, in contrast with the Black-and-White Morality of the early books. Some of the villains are portrayed more sympathetically and the heroic characters are shown to not be above some morally dubious actions of their own, though the point is made that they only resort to this in situations where there are no good alternatives.
    • Halt has a habit of forgery, which the more morally upstanding Horace calls him out on. Halt counters on one occasion by pointing out that King Duncan would give him the documents he's forging legitimately if Halt asked, but it would take far too long, so he's just saving everyone time and trouble. Duncan is also shown to be well aware of Halt's habit of putting his signature on things, but looks the other way because he trusts Halt to only use it for good reasons.
    • On one occasion, Will gives a man to a crew of Skandians who will sell him into slavery. However, the man was an Asshole Victim who was suspected of a string of murders and guilty of a literal Kick the Dog, but hadn't left enough evidence to be held legally responsible for any of it. In addition, he was caught eavesdropping on a sensitive conversation and made no secret of the fact that he planned to sell the top-secret information he overheard to the highest bidder, meaning he had to be silenced somehow. Before Will has the slavery idea, Alyss outright says they might have to kill him to keep him quiet. Will (himself a former slave) also makes it clear that he wouldn't have done it if he didn't absolutely believe Buttle deserved what he was getting.
      • The incident with Buttle isn't the first time a Ranger has used an unorthodox and ethically questionable method to deal with someone who can't be properly punished by the law. When Will reports his actions to Crowley, Halt brings up a Noodle Incident of a certain Ranger who dealt with a bandit by chaining him to a mill and forcing him to spend five years grinding flour for the town he'd been terrorizing. Crowley hastily concedes that sometimes Rangers do have to deal with legally tricky situations and that so long as Will didn't get paid for what he did (which would be a crime), he can't think of any serious objections.
    • Even Horace, who usually acts as the moral compass of the group, gains some shades of this as the series goes on; on one occasion, he deliberately stabs a man with a poisoned arrow, then makes him exercise vigorously to spread the poison and speed up its effects. The man is a cold-blooded assassin who knows the antidote, which is urgently needed to cure one of his victims (Halt), but he refuses to reveal what it is. Horace also has no intention of actually letting the man die; Malcom is on hand to prepare said antidote and administer it to both parties as soon as the assassin cooperates.
    • On another occasion, Horace realizes King Ferris isn't going to cooperate in ousting the Outsiders from Clonmel, so he punches him out and has Halt dress up as him. Even Halt is shocked by that one.
    • On the villainous side, Sir Keren from books 5 and 6 is an Affably Evil Anti-Villain who has sympathetic motivations (he's illegitimate and therefore automatically excluded from inheiriting anything, and his legitimate half-brother is an unlikeable snob before his Character Development), and Tennyson's Outsider cult has brought a sense of peace and order to Clonmel and its neighboring kingdoms that the weak, incompetent rulers of those kingdoms can't be bothered to enforce themselves.
  • Happily Married: Halt and Lady Pauline. And by the eleventh book, Horace and Evanlyn/Princess Cassandra, Will and Alyss.
  • Heel–Face Turn:
    • Erak, and, with him, most of the Skandians.
    • Horace, after some Character Development by way of three Jerk Jocks, is Will's best friend by the end of Book One.
  • Heroic Wannabe: Will, at the beginning of his education.
  • Hesitation Equals Dishonesty: Will learns that this is a common view when he prepares to travel undercover as a bard.
  • Heterosexual Life-Partners: Will and Horace.
  • Hit-and-Run Tactics:
    • The favored approach of the Temujai — understandably, since they're basically Mongols.
    • Under Halt's direction, the Skandians turn the tables on them, though, using their superior knowledge of the terrain to launch night raids on the Temujai supply trains and disappear into the darkness before the Temujai can effectively retaliate.
  • Hoist by His Own Petard: From Book Twelve, Jory Ruhl ends up burning himself alive in the same bonfire he intended to kill Will in.
  • Horns of Barbarism: The Skandians habitually wear horned helmets, which results in a Surprisingly Realistic Outcome moment when one of the main characters uses the horns on a Skandian's helmet to grab the helm and smash it back down on his opponent's head.
  • Hypnotize the Captive: Keren subjects Alyss to this in Book 6, using a combination of a drug (to make her more susceptible the first time he does it) and a jewel with mesmerizing properties to put her into a suggestible state while interrogating her. Finding a way to help her resist this before she's forced to give away all of the group's secrets is one of Will's major goals in the early part of the book. It's firmly played for drama, as Alyss is deeply humiliated by how easily she can be put into a trance just by looking at the stone and terrified that she might be forced to give up vital information that could get Will killed. Then, during the climax, her resistance fails, and Keren orders the hypnotized Alyss to kill Will, knowing he loves her too much to fight back and risk harming her. Luckily for both of them, The Power of Love snaps her out of it.
  • "I Can't Look!" Gesture: Played for Laughs in The Battle of Hackham Heath; Crowley leads the archers in dealing with bandits trying to waylay the queen's party, takes their horses and weapons, and forces them to strip before telling the other archers to tie them up. Afterwards, Crowley tells one of the other party members to tell the queen to put her window blind down, because they're an ugly sight.
  • The Idealist: Horace, for quite a long time, and sometimes to a degree of an Idiot Hero.
  • Idiot Ball: Cassandra grabs this hard in the third Royal Ranger book, when she insists on a duel to the death with the already-captured villain of the arc. It's hinted that she's blinded by vengeance.
  • I Have No Son!: Madelyn is disinherited in Royal Ranger. Unusually for this trope, it's always intended to be temporary.
  • Improbable Aiming Skills: All the Rangers, more or less, but especially Will. Possibly justified due to Ranger archery training, which could be considered a form of Charles Atlas Superpower. One of the many mantras of the Ranger Corps is "An archer practices until he gets it right. A Ranger practices until he never gets it wrong."
  • Improbable Weapon: The common wooden ladle is referred to as an unofficial staff of office for both Master Chubb and his apprentice, Jenny. Partly justified in that they are good-sized ladles, and also solid, making them decent impromptu clubs. Lady Sandra also implies that she might use one on Arald if he has a foot in mouth moment.
  • Improvised Weapon: Jenny takes down three robbers with a roasting pan, a rolling pin, several knives, and a leg of lamb.
  • In the Hood: "And then he drew back into the bushes and pulled his hood over his eyes, blending in so as to be invisible..." every other damn chapter.
  • Instant Waking Skills: The Rangers do this, but it is highly stressed that they aren't at full "alertness" yet.
  • Jerk Jock: Horace starts out as this in Book 1, but undergoes Character Development and becomes a Lovable Jock by the end of the book.
  • Karmic Death: Ferris. He spent years trying to assassinate his twin brother so he could be king of Clonmel. He's eventually assassinated himself by one of Tennyson's hired Genovesans.
  • Kick the Dog:
    • In Book 2, when Morgarath realizes he's managed to capture Princess Cassandra and Halt's own apprentice, he makes a point of taunting Halt and Duncan with this fact.
    • In Book 3, a young knight whose family was murdered by Deparnieux shows up to challenge him. It quickly becomes clear that he's no match for his older and more skilled opponent, but Deparnieux chooses to cruelly toy with him for several minutes before finally killing him.
    • In a literal variant, the first thing Will learns about John Buttle is that he injured his own dog and abandoned her to die on the side of the road.
  • Kill It with Fire: The Kalkara in the first book have thick waxy fur that resists blades and arrows, but the wax makes it extremely flammable.
  • Knight Errant:
    • Exploited while Halt and Horace are traveling through Gallica. Once Halt realizes Horace is more than a match for the average Gallican knight, he paints an oakleaf insignia on Horace's shield and lets "the Oakleaf Knight's" growing reputation precede them. Horace is not happy about this and pointedly reminds Halt that he's not really a knight, but Halt is just happy that they don't have to waste time dealing with every buffoon who tries to extract tolls from passerby.
    • Horace later plays the trope straight when he goes undercover as a Blue Fist, a wandering knight with no employer.
  • Knighting: Horace at the end of Book Four.
  • Knight in Shining Armor: Horace, literally after Book Four.

    L-R 
  • Lady and Knight: Horace and Cassandra.
  • Left-Justified Fantasy Map: Very much resembling medieval Europe, including Hordes from the East.
  • Legendary in the Sequel: In Book 12, Will is so well-known around Araluen, he is pretty much elevated to a Memetic Badass folk hero.
  • Love Epiphany: Alyss and Will. Followed by Love Confession.
  • Love Letter: At the end of book six, between Alyss and Will.
  • Low Fantasy: The earlier books have some shades of High Fantasy, featuring Black-and-White Morality, telepathy, and fantastic creatures, but by the third book, these elements have been dropped in favor of this approach, with no magic and Gray-and-Gray Morality. Book 5 clarifies that the vast majority of "supernatural" occurrences are faked or have other logical explanations. Book 8 later confirms that there is still some magic in the setting when Will encounters a barrow-wight, but he writes it off as All Just a Dream and real magic never appears again.
  • Magic Antidote: Averted. When Halt is saved from poisioning in Book 9, he doesn't regain consciousness for hours, and then just sitting up and speaking exhausts him enough that he passes out immediately. He has to spend a few more days on bed rest before he's well enough to travel, much to his aggravation, and when he tries to return to his normal routine too soon, he has a relapse and has to go back to bed rest.
  • Magic Realism: The only supernatural elements in the series are Lord Morgarath's armies and the barrow-wight that Will catches a glimpse of while waking up in Halt's Peril (and the latter he dismisses as his nightmares).
  • Mama Bear: In The Battle of Hackham Heath, Queen Rosalyn is left fatally injured by her difficult labor with Cassandra. Suspecting from Crowley's unanticipated reappearance that trouble is coming, she pries the facts out of him. When she hears that Morgarath's forces are coming, she immediately tells Crowley that he needs to forget her and protect her daughter, forcing the reluctant ranger to swear to her that he will.
  • Master-Apprentice Chain: Among the Rangers.
  • Man in a Kilt: A non-Fanservice-y example is General MacHaddish of the Scotti Army in Book 6. Generally, the male populace of the country of Picta.
  • Mauve Shirt:
    • Ali, Selethan's lieutenant, is a recurring figure for most of Erak's Ransom, managing to keep his party alive in the desert despite a lack of water and working with Will and the Bedullin to save his leader. He receives fatal wounds in the final battle, dying with Will by his side.
    • Shukin gets just enough time to be likable before his Heroic Sacrifice.
  • Meaningful Name: In-universe, the surname Will is given at his Ranger ceremony is Treaty, in honor of the peace treaty he negotiated with the Skandians, which would be a very important milestone in Araluan history.
  • The Medic: Malcolm fills this trope perfectly.
  • Medieval European Fantasy: Even though the names have been changed, it's pretty easy to tell which real-life countries the book's countries are based on. See Istanbul (Not Constantinople) above.
  • Mentor Archetype: Halt. He has some features of Eccentric Mentor and The Chooser of the One.
  • Mentor Occupational Hazard: Subverted. Halt survives the whole series (though "Halt's Peril" is well-named).
  • A Minor Kidroduction: Will, Horace, and Alyss are introduced in this way at the beginning of the first volume.
  • Mundane Utility: In Book 8, it's revealed that Halt uses his Improbable Aiming Skills to catch fish. Horace, having spent the last several years learning the "gentlemanly" way of fishing, is mildly horrified.
  • Must Have Caffeine: Will, Gilan, and, to a lesser extent, Horace are all huge fans of coffee. Halt also loves coffee (with honey, no less), but doesn't show it much, being The Stoic.
    • Depending on the book, that is. Sometimes Halt uses honey; other times he claims it's a "perfect way to ruin good coffee".
    • In book 12, Will and Gilan barely even consider the chances of Madelyn becoming a ranger until she takes a liking to coffee.
  • My God, What Have I Done?: When she's first threatened, then outright attacked by a thug in Book 12, Madelyn falls back on her training and puts her throwing knife through the man's heart. Then she realizes that she's just killed someone and is overwhelmed with guilt, eventually breaking down crying in Will's arms.
  • No "Arc" in "Archery": Subverted. The books describe how the Rangers and other archers have to angle their shots upward to account for gravity acting on the arrow. One time, Will "misses" an almost-impossible-except-for-a-Ranger longshot because he forgot that the bow he was using would have more drop-off than he was used to.
  • Noiseless Walker: the Rangers.
  • Not Hyperbole: Throughout the first several books, many characters comment that Halt's hair looks as if he cuts it with his saxe knife. Then in Book Eight he needs to cut his hair as part of a disguise... and pulls out his saxe.
  • Odd Friendship: Horace and Will; Horace started out as a bully and Jerk Jock before taking a few levels in humility and kindness.
  • One Riot, One Ranger: The series actually uses this phrase to describe the kingdom's group of elite archers, spies, and tacticians. It's not exactly wrong, considering this happens several times during the series.
  • Only a Flesh Wound:
    • Horace receives minor injuries multiple times, and is mostly able to shrug them off and continue fighting. Examples are during the storm of Macindaw, the final fight in Erak's Ransom, and others.
    • Subverted cruelly in Halt's Peril where Halt's minor wound turns nearly deadly due to poison.
    • Also subverted in Royal Ranger: Madelyn is completely incapacitated by a javelin in her thigh, even though it misses anything important. Indeed, the wound is stated to still occasionally trouble her even years later.
  • Papa Wolf: Don't mess with Will when Halt's around. Don't mess with Horace when Halt's around. Probably not a good idea to mess with Gilan when Halt's around either, but we haven't seen any evidence of it.
  • Parental Substitute: Halt for Will, and Shigeru for Horace.
  • Path of Inspiration: The Outsiders in Book Eight.
  • Pet the Dog: Literally—Will's acquaintance with Shadow begins when he heals her injuries.
  • Platonic Life-Partners: Horace and Alyss have absolutely no romantic feelings for each other, and after Book 4, Will and Cassandra show no romantic feelings for one another either (though Alyss is Wrong Genre Savvy and takes a while to understand this).
  • Poison Is Evil: The only instances of poison being used is by the antagonistic and ruthless Genovesan assassins.
  • Poor Communication Kills: Alyss knows that Evanlyn/Cassandra was attracted to Will when they were younger and feels jealous even after Will makes it clear he's chosen Alyss. These feelings of jealousy completely blind Alyss to the fact that Cassandra has moved on and continue to cause friction between the girls until things come to a head in Book 10. The trope is then subverted when Evanlyn gets fed up and makes Alyss sit down and talk about it, lampshading that she would have liked to become friends a long time ago, but never had a chance to properly get to know Alyss because the latter kept pushing her away. Once Alyss realizes how badly she was acting, she's deeply apologetic and the two are on much better terms from that point forward.
  • The Power of Love: Alyss uses this to resist Keren's hypnotism in Book 7, imagining Will's face to keep her attention from being drawn to the mesmerising patterns of the jewel he's holding in front of her. At the climax, she falls completely under, but snaps out of it when Will confesses that he loves her.
  • Power Trio: Halt, Will, and Horace form one of these in the later books. As of Book Eight, this becomes official in-story.
  • Prank Punishment: One of Halt's favorite teaching methods is to let the over-eager Will try a task on his own before telling him the correct way to do it. Most notably, he allows Will to mount a "ranger's horse" before telling him how.
    • As it turns out, this is standard for all Rangers.
  • Proud Warrior Race Guy: Erak and his crew, as is the vogue for most Skandians.
  • Punctuality Is for Peasants: In The Sorcerer of the North, Will's friend/Love Interest Alyss, posing as an airheaded aristocrat named Lady Gwendolyn, calls him to her rooms in his entertainer guise, and promptly keeps him waiting for a long time. Will notes that this carelessness about commoners' time suits her aristocratic cover identity, but he still feels that she overdoes it a bit. However, once he's safely inside, she apologizes for having to hold him in the waiting room for so long.
  • Puppet King: Tennyson seizes control of Hibernia this way. While the kings are all still nominally on their thrones, Tennyson is the one calling the shots. He has a similar deal with King Ferris, but Horace brings in Halt to impersonate him and discredit Tennyson, breaking their deal and forcing Ferris to commit to helping the protagonists if he wants to save his own skin.
  • Rags to Royalty:
    • Horace is a Cinderella version. He was a peasant boy who was orphaned as a child, but after entering Battleschool he proved to be a prodigy at swordfighting. This skill earned him a position in Cassandra's royal guard after he played an instrumental role in rescuing her from slavery in Skandia. Over the years, the two grow closer until, in Book 10, Horace proposes and Cassandra accepts. They get married in Book 11, and by Book 12 they're ruling Araluen together and have a teenage daughter.
    • Madelyn is a King Thrushbeard version: her parents disinherit her in a last-ditch attempt to force her to grow out of being a Royal Brat. Once she's gone through some Character Development, she's reinstated as Crown Princess.
  • Red Herring: The entire plot of The Burning Bridge.
  • Red Oni, Blue Oni: Cassandra and Alyss, with energetic Cassandra as the red and graceful Ayss as the Blue. Also Halt and Will, with taciturn Halt acting as the Blue Oni to his eager apprentice's Red.
  • Remember the New Guy?: Lady Sandra, Arald's wife, never appeared or was even mentioned before Book 7. A downplayed example since there's not much reason for her to have appeared previously-and it's possible that she and Arald may have married in between Books 4 and 7.
  • Replacement Goldfish: In Book 11, an injury forces Tug to retire as Will's horse, and Will is told that he would have had to retire soon anyway because he's getting old. Luckily, the Ranger's breeding program accounts for the strong attachment Rangers have to their horses. Will's new horse was carefully bred to be as similar to Tug as possible, so Will is able to pick up with the new Tug right where he and the old Tug left off. It's also shown that Rangers who've retired horses still cherish their old mounts and visit them when they can.
  • Rescue Romance: Alyss and Will in Book 6, and gender-inverted by Cassandra and Horace in Book 10. Played with in both cases, as the parties involved already had romantic feelings for each other, but the events of the rescues are what lead to them admitting those feelings and officially becoming couples.
  • Rightful King Returns: Subverted in Book Eight. By the end of the book, it's come out that Ferris was a usurper and his twin brother (Halt) is alive and well. As far as everyone is concerned, the obvious course of action is for Halt to finally take his rightful place on the throne. Halt is having none of it and hands the throne off to his nephew Sean, then returns to what he was doing with his life before he got dragged back into Ferris's business.
  • Royal Brat: Madelyn is sent to be a Ranger partially because she needs life experience and partially because she's a minor example of this trope, as noted by several characters. She grows out of it about halfway through the book.
  • Royals Who Actually Do Something: Cassandra, and how. Madelyn takes it a step further by becoming the first female Ranger though she isn't a royal when it happens.
  • Running Gag:
    • A minor one where everyone (except Alyss) calls Will's mandola (a stringed instrument similar to a lute) a lute.
    • Also, Horace's status as a Big Eater, to the point where it becomes an Affectionate Nickname amongst the Nihon-Jan.
    • Crowley's complete inability/desire to keep the Ranger graduation serious, instead mumbling and bumbling and throwing pieces of paper around.
      Crowley: What's wrong? Did I miss something? Oh, of course! You'll need your silver...g eegaws, won't you? Well, might as well hand 'em over.
    • Every single time an apprentice is given a horse, they immediately try and mount it without waiting for the passphrase, then get bucked off. Every. Single. Time.

    S-Z 
  • Sapient Steed: Ranger horses can't speak (because they're horses), but it has been shown several times that they all have human-level intelligence. Will's horse, Tug, in particular, has mastered the art of "saying something with a look".
    • One of the short stories reveals that it's all in their heads, somehow.
    • Zig-zagged in the twelfth book. The newest Ranger Apprentice, Maddie, immediately bonds with her Ranger horse, Bumper. Bumper "comments" on Maddie's shock that such a barrel-shaped little pony could go so fast. She asks Will about whether the Ranger horses can "talk" or not, and Will dismisses the notion as ridiculous...while silently marveling at the fact that Maddie can already understand her horse.
  • Scam Religion: The Outsiders. First, their white-robed leaders move to an area and set themselves up as humble worshippers of the golden god, Alseias. Then attacks and pillaging, carried out by hired bandits, start up. The Outsiders immediately begin to fast and pray for their god to drive away the bandits, but they claim that Alseias's power is fueled by gold, and they don't have enough. Once people start handing over money, the attacks stop, only to start up again before the people can get too comfortable, pressuring them to part with more to earn another respite. Once the community has been wrung dry, the Outsiders skip town, taking all the gold they've collected with them.
  • Scarily Competent Tracker: This is the entire point of the Rangers, though the author does try to make them as realistic as possible, such as when it's shown that even the best can't track at night, after rainfall, etc.
  • See the Invisible: One Ranger can usually see through the other's camouflage. They make a game of it during their annual gathering, trying to catch each other sneaking up to the campgrounds.
  • Shameful Strip: After defeating a group of bandits trying to rob the royal carriage, Crowley forces them to strip themselves absolutely naked and leaves them in the forest, tied up.
  • Shipper on Deck: Arald has always been one for Halt and Pauline, while both of them ship Will/Alyss. It's also implied that Duncan is this for Horace/Cassandra, and Alyss joins him in this after she gets over her jealousy. Meanwhile, Horace is also an avid shipper of Will/Alyss.
  • Ship Tease: Some between Horace and Jenny in Book 1, though they end up with different people and remain Just Friends.
  • Shorter Means Smarter: Played straight with the Rangers, averted with Horace, Morgarath, and Duncan.
  • Shown Their Work:
    • Most of the author's explanations on archery, culture and battle tactics is generally correct, if occasionally somewhat simplistic.
    • The chillingly accurate portrayal of what it's like to virtually die of dehydration, and just how easily it can happen to anyone who doesn't know the desert.
  • Shrouded in Myth: The Rangers, of course.
    • The foreword of Book Eleven, The Lost Stories, does this literally, telling about a group of late-19th-century historians searching for clues about the existence of the fabled Ranger Corps.
  • Single Woman Seeks Good Man: Explicitly the case for Cassandra, and most likely for Alyss and Jenny as well.
  • The Smurfette Principle: Evanlyn for books two till four.
  • Snark-to-Snark Combat: Expect this to occur whenever multiple Rangers get together. Or with their horses. Or Halt and Horace. Or Will and Horace. Or Halt and Arald. Or...you get the point.
  • Stealth Pun: Bart and Carney, the two snarky bandits from Book 2, are a subtle shout-out to Sesame Street's Bert and Ernie.
  • Story Arc: The series relies on these rather than a single overarching narrative. The first arc is four books long, and after that the series shifts to two-book arcs alternating with stand-alone stories.
  • Student–Master Team: Will and Halt, but also Alyss and Lady Pauline.
    • Naturally, Will takes over for master when he gets an apprentice.
    • Though Gilan isn't Horace or Will's official master, he gets into this with both of them, particularly Horace, during Book 2.
  • Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome: Alyss in Book 12. Liam too.
  • Supporting Leader: Halt. Suspiciously similar to Aragorn, including being the rightful king of Clonmel. Although, unlike Aragorn, he doesn't take the throne, even when it seems logical to do so.
  • Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Some complain about the Ranger's Improbable Aiming Skills...but there's a reason they practice pretty much every single day for five years before they even graduate, and then continue practicing afterwards.
    • In Book 1, Will learns the hard way why archers wear arm guards; when he tries to shoot without one, the bowstring smacks painfully against his arm, throwing off his aim. The same thing happens to Evanlyn when she tries to teach herself to use a hunting bow in Book 4.
    • In Book 6, while discussing how to retake Macindaw, Horace spells out that the protagonists simply aren't equipped for a siege, nor do they have the superior forces they'd need to overpower the castle's defenders. A One-Man Army is useless if he'll be shot down by crossbows before he even reaches the castle wall, so a traditional attack is out of the question.
    • Horses have shorter lifespans than humans and pass their prime much earlier. Will is forced to grapple with this in Book 11 when an injury forces Tug to retire and Old Bob explains Tug was getting old enough that he would have needed to retire soon in any case.
    • Going on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge is a heck of a lot harder when you don't know where your target is. Also, if you have a duty, your boss is not going to let you put that aside and pursue your personal vendetta.
    • As Teach Me How To Fight notes below, wanting to help others defend their country is great. But you're not going to pick up archery skills just by wanting to, as Will himself discovered earlier in the book.
    • Once you get used to a certain kind of weapon, you have to remember not to rely solely on muscle memory when using a new one, as Will discovers in Book 5.
    • The downside of falling in love with an Action Hero/Action Girl is that you'll have to constantly worry about them being in danger. It's worth it, though.
    • Will and Cassandra's relationship undergoes quite a strain when they return to Araluen. It's one thing for a boy and a girl to bond under incredibly dangerous conditions with only each other to really trust and rely on. It's a whole other story when they come back home and the girl goes back to being a princess, far above the station of an orphaned commoner.
    • Trying to win a battle isn't always a good idea, if you won't have enough reserves to get back home across thousands of miles of hostile territory.
  • Talented, but Trained: Sir Rodney notes in Book 1 that Horace is very much this, starting out with lots of natural skill but still no match for an experienced swordsman like himself. However, lots of training from different mentors and practicing for years makes him into a Master Swordsman of the highest caliber.
    • Will, Halt, and Gilan all count as well, as do presumably the other Rangers.
  • Teach Me How To Fight: Cassandra asks Will to teach her how to shoot. He tells her that he could - if they had several months.
  • Team Chef: While all Rangers learn how to cook satisfying meals while in the field, Will in particular has a certain knack for it.
    Halt: Just because we spend long days travelling doesn't mean we have to survive on hardtack and water. A good meal does wonders for group morale.
  • Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: In Book 8, Halt is not happy about the idea of working with King Ferris of Clonmel (not only is Ferris indecisive and weak-willed, he tried to kill Halt the last time they spoke to each other), but recognizes that it's a better option than letting Tennyson and the Outsiders take control of the country and bleed the people dry. Subverted when Ferris isn't willing to work with Halt even after the gravity of the situation is spelled out to him, at which point Horace knocks him out and brings in a Fake King to do the job.
  • Tell Me About My Father: Will spends much of the first book dreaming of becoming a knight to follow in his father's footsteps. At the end, Halt reveals that Will's father died saving his life on the battlefield and tells Will what little he knows about him, giving closure to Will's previous aspirations. One of the short stories in Book 11 has Halt admit that he held back parts of the story and tell Will the entire tale, including that Will's mother died in a similarly heroic manner rather than in childbirth as Will previously thought.
  • Tempting Fate: When Horace rashly challenges Morgarath to single combat, Duncan asks him to spare the young man. Morgarath mockingly suggests that maybe Duncan should ask Horace to go easy on him. Horace ends up killing Morgarath using a Ranger trick he earlier learned from Will and Gilan.
  • The Hero's Journey: The books trace how Will and Horace go from being a social outcast and Jerk Jock, respectively, to being a well-respected Ranger and Prince Consort of the Kingdom. Alyss and Evanlyn also go through this to a lesser degree. Book 12 is all about Maddie doing this.
  • The Theme Park Version: A distinct feature of the series is the idealism, although this is somewhat tempered by realism. More like very idealistic on the Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism.
    • The reason slavery is abolished in Skandia is that "You need the slaves to fight for you if you're going to have any chance of defending against the massive Temujai army. They're not going to fight for you unless you give them what they want: their freedom."
    • Book 5 reveals that slavery hasn't been totally abolished, though there have been reforms regarding how slaves are treated.
    • It's also pointed out that Duncan is the first king to appoint women to important positions, and the Bedullin suffer from racism towards the Arridi, as does Hal in the spin-off series. Racism and sexism are definitely strong forces at work, just less so in Araulen.
  • Time Skip: Two or three, depending on how one counts:
    • Book five skips straight to Will being a full Ranger with his own fief after still being an apprentice in book four. Book seven goes back and fills in some of the gap.
    • A pretty long one between the events of Book 10 and Book 12 (Book 11, being a collection of short stories, doesn't really count). For example, Cassandra and Horace now have a 15-year-old daughter named Madelyn. Other notable events include Crowley dying in his sleep of old age, Gilan becoming the new Ranger Corps Commandant, Halt retiring from the Ranger Corps, and, the most shocking thing, Alyss dying in an inn fire, trying to save a child trapped inside.
  • To Be a Master: Every one of the young characters in their own profession: Will as a Ranger, Horace as a knight, Alyss as a diplomat—and Cassandra as a ruler. Jenny and George are also implied to follow this path.
  • Tomboy and Girly Girl: Cassandra and Alyss. Cassandra is the tomboy, particularly in her first few books when she's cut her hair short and dresses as a boy (though that was as much for practical reasons as personal preference). Graceful, feminine Alyss is the girly girl.
  • Tomboy Princess: Cassandra's hobbies including sneaking around at night and scaring the sentries half to death with her sling.
  • Training the Peaceful Villagers: The Kikori in Book 10. They don't have any combat experience, but they are great at coordinating with each other, so Will is able to teach them some simple but effective mass-combat tactics that their opponents just don't know how to effectively counter.
  • Villain Decay: In Book 1, the Mongols Temujai are briefly mentioned and described as being able to conquer Araluen without any hope of being stopped if they cared to. When they actually appear at the beginning of Book 4, they easily wipe out several Skandian forts and are portrayed as nigh-unbeatable thanks to their sheer numbers. However, from there they go downhill quickly, thanks to Halt knowing their tactics and how to counter them. By the end of the book, their army takes massive losses thanks to a combination of the Skandians using actual battle tactics rather than just relying on Attack! Attack! Attack! and a hastily-trained group of archers thinning their numbers from a distance, which they have no idea how to deal with. Downplayed, however, as even then Halt points out that they had the numbers to win if they really wanted to; they only retreated because if they kept fighting, they'd lose too many men to safely make the trip home.
  • Vitriolic Best Buds: Will and Horace still argue a bit after becoming friends. Particularly Horace, who loves the fact that he can suddenly make winning points in the argument. Of course, they are a much more mild example than most.
  • Weapons Breaking Weapons: The nation of Nihon-ja possesses a technique for folding iron rods together to form a very hard steel composite, which they use to make their distinctive curved swords. Horace discovers how effective it is when one shatters his straight Araluen sword, and he's forced to adapt to using a curved sword, despite the unfamiliarity, because any lesser steel can't compete. Eventually, for his service, he's gifted a custom-made straight sword forged with Nihon-jan steel and surprises an opponent who sees the shape and assumes he can easily break it.
  • We Have Reserves: This is basically how the Temujai fight in a nutshell. However, they have limits. When the main leader starts to grow incensed at how many of their men are getting killed, one of his sub-commanders tries to brush it off by stating they expected casualties fighting the Skandians. The leader rounds on him and roars they were expecting a "skirmish" against a bunch of Leeroy Jenkins, not a drag-out fight with archers and well-thought-out defenses.
  • "Well Done, Son" Guy: Will lives for Halt's approval. Of course, as lampshaded near the end of Erak's Ransom, this sort of thing happens to nearly everyone who works with Halt.
    • It is mentioned in later books that both Will and Halt see their relationship as essentially that of father and son.
    • In Book Seven, it's shown that Will would literally rather die of thirst, having gotten hopelessly lost in the desert, than disappoint Halt. Then again, he isn't exactly thinking logically at the time.
    "[Will] wondered briefly if the map Selethen had given him had been false and remembered that thought occurring to him during the preceding day. But he dismissed it almost immediately. Selethen was an honorable man, he thought. No, the map was accurate. The mistake had been his and now he would never know what it had been. Halt would be disappointed, he thought—and perhaps that was the worst aspect of this situation. For five years, he had tried his best for the grizzled, unsmiling Ranger who had become like a father to him. All he ever sought was Halt's approval, no matter what anyone else in the world might think. A nod of appreciation or one of Halt's rare smiles was the greatest accolade he could imagine. Now, at this final hurdle, he had let his mentor down and he didn't know how or why it had happened. He didn't want to die knowing that Halt would be disappointed with him. He could bear the dying, he thought, but not the disappointment."
  • World of Snark: Pretty much everyone gets at least one or two snarky moments throughout the series.
  • Worthy Opponent: A few of these, most notably Erak the Proud Warrior Race Guy who later becomes a close ally of the protagonists, and Selethen, who ends up the Graceful Loser, and also a close ally.

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