Courtly Love
Marie (firstborn of Eleanor Of Aquitaine by her first marriage to Louis VII) was a countess who had a court in Champagne, France, in the late 1100s, the High Middle Ages. Two texts came out of her court:
- Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart by Chrétien de Troyes
The very first Arthurian story to include the affair between Queen Guinevere and Sir Lancelot. It begins with a preface where Chrétien says it was written at Marie's request, she provided the outline for it, and "her command has more to do with this work than any thought or pains that I may expend upon it." - De amore by Andreas Capellanus
An essay, and sort of a pickup guide, about how to conduct a strange sort of extramarital love affair within a courtly context. Modern academics think it's probably a parody, although it's hard to be certain.
In Knight of the Cart, Lancelot is a Cloudcuckoolander. There's a reading to be had that Chrétien is making fun of him, or maybe that it's a Stealth Parody
There's also claims of troubadour songs from the same period with the same themes, although as oral tradition those have been less well documented.
Foretold Offspring's Death
For all but the worst parents, Outliving One's Offspring is a top fear. What, then, if that death has already been foretold? What if — before their child was even conceived — they heard a prophecy that their kid would die young?
- "Story of Your Life" by Ted Chiang: Linguist Dr. Louise Banks learns a mind-screw Starfish Language through which she learns that her future daughter will die in a climbing accident at age 25. Because of the philosophy of determinism that goes with the language, Louise accepts this.
- A Song of Ice and Fire: At age 10, Cersei gets her future read by a fortune teller. She's told she will have 3 children, who will all die, before she herself dies too. In adulthood this becomes the foundation of justified but counterproductive paranoia after her firstborn dies.
Mistaken Trope
- Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart: Lancelot has a ring from his adoptive fairy mother, and he believes it's a Summoning Artifact can be used to call upon her in his hour of need. Except it's not.Holding the ring before his eyes, he gazed at it, and said: "Lady, lady, so help me God, now I have great need of your succour!" This lady was a fairy, who had given it to him, and who had cared for him in his infancy. And he had great confidence that, wherever he might be, she would aid and succour him. But after appealing to her and gazing upon the ring, he realises that there is no enchantment here, but that they are actually shut in and confined.
- A Song of Ice and Fire: Twincest lovers Cersei and Jaime Lannister think they're Single-Minded Twins. In Cersei's words, "We are one person in two bodies." When both twins get POV chapters, it reveals that... no, actually, they're really not very alike. Yet the twins really believe this trope is in effect. Cersei and Jaime Lannister have an elaborate Love Is Like Religion personal mythology around their twinhood, and "one person in two bodies" is the core tenant of that. Jaime is convinced that "If I were a woman, I would be Cersei," and Cersei likewise thinks, "If I were a man, I'd be Jaime." Their POV chapters, however, reveal that they're wrong about this.
- House of the Dragon episode 1.07 "Driftmark": Rhaena thinks that Ancestral Weapon is at play when it comes to dragons. Rhaena's mother has recently died, leaving her dragon, Vhagar, without a rider. Rhaena thinks that Vhagar is now hers by rights. This isn't accurate; there's never been any precedent for dragon being directly inherited. They're living creatures who pick their own riders.Rhaena: Vhagar is my mother's dragon.
Aemond: Your mother's dead. And Vhagar has a new rider now.
Rhaena: She was mine to claim.
Aemond: Then you should've claimed her!
Past & Present Storylines
Some books have prequels and sequels, telling about what happened before and after and how that ties into, informs, or thematically mirrors the "main" story. Other stories take all that and put it in a single book.
Sometimes overlaps with Framing Device, where one storyline frames another.
Examples
- Holes contains 3 storylines: Stanley at Camp Greenlake in the present, his great-great grandfather Elya getting cursed and immigrating from Latvia to the US, and Kate Barlow living at Greenlake a century ago.
- More Than You'll Ever Know deals with Lore having an affair between 1983 and 1986, and Cassie interviewing Lore about it in 2017.
- Not part of the narrative:
- preface: an introduction to a book or other literary work written by the work's author.
- foreword: An introductory essay written by someone other than the author
- part of the narrative:
- prologue: an opening section of the story which is somehow disjointed from the rest of the book. Often "chapter 0" rather than chapter 1.
Waining Institution
Back in the day
Compare it's Little Sister Trope, How the Mighty Have Fallen, and Big Sister Trope, Vestigial Empire.
Examples
- A Song of Ice and Fire: The Night's Watch are several thousand year old military order, founded in The Time of Myths. Their mission is to guard The Great Wall and keep out the supernatural undead. In their heyday, the Watch was honorable and highly regarded, and younger sons without inheritance often elected to join. In the present day virtually no one wants to join the Watch, and most of their men are ex-cons who come to them via a Trading Bars for Stripes arrangement. They once had 17 manned fortifications along the Wall. Now they barely have enough men to man 3.
- The Tombs of Atuan: The Kargads Lands have three different gods, each corresponding to a different period of history. The oldest are the Eldritch Abomination "Nameless Ones", served by a reincarnated priestess. Nowadays the Nameless Ones are deprioritized and their temple is falling into disrepair.Manan: Long ago, you know, little one, before our four lands joined together into an empire, before there was a Godking over us all, there were a lot of lesser kings, princes, chiefs. They were always quarreling with each other. And they’d come here to settle their quarrels. That was how it was, they’d come from our land Atuan, and from Karego-At, and Atnini, and even from Hur-at-Hur, all the chiefs and princes with their servants and their armies. And they’d ask you what to do. And you’d go before the Empty Throne, and give them the counsel of the Nameless Ones.
I don't hate you because you're fat—but if hate you for another reason, your being fat is not irrelevant.
Alice does not mind that Bob is [insert low-status characteristic here] so long as they're friends. Yet when animosity grows between them, she won't hesitate to use X characteristic against him.
Live Action TV
- Elite (2018): In Alpha Bitch mode, Lu bullies Nadia for wearing a hijab. In no other context does she seem to hold any animosity for Muslims. She lived in Dubai for 2 years with her diplomat father, and speaks Arabic. She forms a Gay Best Friend friendship with Nadia's brother Omar, and later becomes friends with Nadia herself. But when she needs a easy ammunition, she's willing to reach for it.
- House of the Dragon: Criston doesn't have a problem with women most of the time. He's part of a Lady and Knight dynamic where he's happy to be completely subservient to a woman. He says that lowborn prostitutes should be treated with respect. But when Rhaenyra burns him and he turns on her, in his anger he's quick to reach for gendered insults.
Examples
Imitated Behavior
- Crashing (UK): Kate is an uptight Control Freak. She's engaged to Anthony. His flirty childhood friend Lulu — a Hard-Drinking Party Girl Manic Pixie Dream Girl — has just come to stay with them. Lulu is clearly in love with Anthony, and Kate is very insecure about having to romantically compete with her. She's particularly jealous of Lulu's spontaneity and social ease. Kate tries to mimic some of Lulu's behavior, but Kate is painfully awkward and stilted despite her best efforts, and these attempts crash and burn in a Cringe Comedy way.
- House of the Dragon: Criston is Aemond's father figure. In episode 1.06, a young Aemond watches Criston bait an enemy into sudden violence with a veiled Fisticuff-Provoking Comment. Criston has Plausible Deniability; his enemy does not. Years later in episode 1.08, Aemond does the same thing. He's been watching and learning, as a son does his father.
Have Sex Like a Man
- House of the Dragon: In episode 1.04, Princess Rhaenyra is initiated into sex when Daemon sneaks her out of the royal palace and takes her to a brothel. He gives a little speech that is, at first glace, a surprisingly modern declaration of Sex Is Liberation, and at second glance, a horrifyingly of-its-time assertion of the sexual entitlement of rich, powerful men. The key idea is this: take who and what you want. Then Daemon (who has had UST with Rhaenyra for a while) starts kissing her. They're about to have sex, only for Daemon abruptly stop and leave in an Ambiguous Situation. Rhaenyra returns home frustrated.
Custom of the Castle
The Custom of the Castle is a trope found in medieval European fiction. It is a trope where various castles (and sometimes other locations) have strange, random customs which must be strictly and judiciously followed.Slurs Are a Special Kind of Evil
A certain caliber of highly offensive language is treated as uniquely vulgar and categorically inappropriate to call anyone, ever — even people who have wronged you in far more tangible, consequential ways.
Often related to some sort of Double Standard situation. Don't criticize a woman in a sexualized manner, even if Double Standard Rape: Female on Male going on, or a homosexual in a sexualized manner even if there's Double Standard: Rape, Male on Male or Double Standard: Rape, Female on Female going on.
Related to Politically Incorrect Villain. The inverse of Graceful Loser, who is commendable for holding their temper even under extreme stress.
Live Action TV
- Glee: In the episode 1.20 "Theatricality", new teenage stepbrothers Kurt and Finn are about to share a bedroom. Kurt has an unreciprocated, somewhat obsessive, crush on Finn and there's a Hopeless Suitor dynamic. Finn knows this and is uncomfortable about them rooming together. It escalates, and Finn looses his temper and calls Kurt "faggy." Kurt's father Burt overhears this exchange and goes on a Papa Bear rant defending his gay son. It's treated as a Gay Aesop moment. Finn is punished; Kurt is not. However, the trope is retroactively subverted. It's Burt's reaction that gives the event its framing, and Burt's outlook on it changes. The scene receives callbacks when Burt brings it up in later years, each time hundercutting his initial handling of the situation. The final framing is that Finn shouldn't have said that, but it's not a special caliber of heinous.
- In the episode 2.04 "Duets":Burt: Maybe Finn has a point. [...] I was talking to Carole, and you weren't totally honest with me. She told me that you had a crush on Finn and you weren't afraid to show it. Is this true? [...] You gotta understand, most guys don't know how to deal with unwanted advances.
- In the episode 5.03 "The Quarterback":Burt: Y'know, I was right in principle — but, y'know, c'mon, the kid didn't have a prejudiced bone in his body. I knew what he meant when he was calling it "faggy." I wasn't teaching him a lesson in tolerance; I was teaching myself one. He was just unlucky enough to be there for it.
- In the episode 2.04 "Duets":
- House of the Dragon: Criston has sworn a high-profile Vow of Celibacy. If he were caught breaking it he would be put to death, or at very least castrated and sent to a Penal Colony. Princess Rhaenyra strong-arms a reluctant Criston into sex in a seriously Questionable Consent scene. Criston develops huge resentment toward Rhaenyra over this. A decade later (although only 1-2 episodes later in screen time) he criticizes her in a sexualized manner, calling her a "spoiled cunt." This is framed as specifically out-of-line, with even Criston's friend (who also dislikes Rhaenyra) giving him a Disapproving Look for saying it.
Western Animation
Otherworldly Incest
Incest is being a near-universal human taboo. So when characters or fictional societies break from that, that makes them "other".Across the world, consistently the two groups who most commonly practice incest are the gods and the royals. Though this association, incest becomes associated with otherness and superiority.
Literature
- A Song of Ice and Fire: Within a Westerosi perspective, incest is most heavily associated with the Targaryens, who were the ruling dynasty of Westeros for the last 300 years. While the Targaryens aren't explicitly anything but human, they have a lot of classic "elf" characteristic, and a handful of quasi-magical traits. They're Dragon Riders, have Mystical White Hair and purple eyes, occasionally have prophetic "dragon dreams". They practiced extensive Royal Inbreeding. When the local, not-at-all-magic-or-otherworldly Westerosi objected, the Targaryens came up with the "Doctrine of Exceptionalism", which said incest was allowed for Targaryens and Targaryens only, on the basis that the Targaryens are descended from a great lost empire where incest was common.
- Chronicles of the Kencyrath: The Kencyrath are an elf-like ancient race with long life, mystical powers, and a special purpose. For much of their history they practiced incest in order to breed for receive Shanir (ie. magical) traits in hopes of creating their prophesied magic chosen one. After a twincestuous couple cased the downfall of their people, they mostly kinda stopped inbreeding—although the Ardeth still do. Because of the old tradition, contemporary Kencyrath see incest—at worst—as dangerous and a bad idea. Many common human associations with incest, such as creepy, gross, unnatural, or dysfunctional, are not part of the Kencyrath cultural understanding.
Recap.Erec And Enide
The hunt begins. Queen Guinevere is accompanied by one Lady-In-Waiting and the knight Erec. They ride out. They see at a distance an armored knight, a damsel, and a Depraved Dwarf. Guinevere wants to go talk to them, but when her party tries to approach them the dwarf intercepts them with a whip. They decide something is up here, and Erec decides to stay and trail this mystery knight. He tells Guinevere, "If possible, I shall be back by the third day, when you will see me home again either joyous or sad."
Guinevere and her lady head home, where they find Arthur has been the one to kill the stag. At Guinevere's suggestion they decide — for no obvious reason except perhaps an excuse to not face controversy — to delay the "fairest maiden" decision for three days until Erec returns.
Erec trails the mystery knight, damsel, and dwarf until they reach a town. In the town Erec meets an aging vavasor who offers to host him.
The vavasor introduces Erec to his wife and daughter. His daughter is outrageously beautiful. The family is hospitable yet poor. They could have improved their circumstances by marrying their daughter to a nobleman, but they've held off, hoping they might yet make a match with a king or count. Her father stresses she's not only beautiful, but smart and kind, and dreads to loose her.
The father tells Erec that their town is holding an event tomorrow, where knights will compete for a falconry sparrow-hawk. Each knight entering must have a lady (diegetic reason unclear). Erec's mystery knight has won two years in a row and is predicted to win again this year. The father offers to loan Erec arms so that he can enter the competition. Then he mentions that he's a prince, son of the rich King Lac, so can he marry the daughter please? The dad agrees. The daughter seems chill with this, although she's not consulted.
The next morning, Erec prepares for the competition. After winning two years in a row, the the mystery knight had been expecting no one to challenge him and to automatically win this year. They duel, get tried, agree to take a break and rest for a bit, then get up and duel again. Erec gets the knight pined, and the knight asks, "For what wrong shouldst thou hate me with mortal hatred? I never saw thee before that I am aware." Erec says it's because he allowed his dwarf to whip him and Queen Guinevere's lady in the forest yesterday, and so he wants to take him as prisioner to Guinevere to answer for that. The knight surrenders and agrees. His name is Yder, by the way.
Yder — along with his damsel and dwarf — go to court and present themselves to Guinevere. Guinevere isn't too cross since he turned himself in; Arthur offers to drop any offence in exchange for him joining Arthur's court. Yder agrees.
Back with Erec, the local Count (his new bride's uncle) throws a party for him. Erec speaks to his new father-in-law and offers to make him lord of two towns — Roadan and Montrevel — in his father's kingdom. In the morning, Erec, his new bride and in-laws all pack up and set off home, with seemingly the whole town coming along to escort them just for fun.
When they arrive at court, Guinevere gives Erec's bride some clothes and they have a Costume Porn moment. The bride comes out to meet the court, and she's shy. Guinevere says this girl is clear the fairest in the court, and naming her such for The Grand Hunt would be uncontroversial. Everyone else agrees. She is conveniently ok with this, as it would be discourteous to object, an Arthur kisses her.
