History Literature / ATaleOf

* MythologyGag: Attina is Triton's oldest daughter, just like in ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaidIIIArielsBeginning''. This contrasts with earlier media having Aquata as the elder sister.

* ''Literature/ATwistedTale'', a YA series by Liz Braswell, Elizabeth Lim, and Jen Calonita featuring WhatIf retellings ([[WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}} "What if Aladdin had never found the lamp?"]] [[WesternAnimation/SleepingBeauty "What if the sleeping beauty never woke up?"]] [[WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast "What if Belle's mother cursed the Beast?"]] [[WesternAnimation/{{Mulan}} "What if Mulan had to travel to the Underworld?"]] [[WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid1989 "What if Ariel had never defeated Ursula?"]] [[WesternAnimation/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs "What if the Evil Queen poisoned the prince?"]]).

* Scary Faerie Tales, by author M.A Kersh.

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* AlwaysSecond-Best: Gaston

* ''Literature/ATwistedTale'', a YA series by Liz Braswell, Elizabeth Lim and Jen Calonita featuring WhatIf retellings ([[WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}} "What if Aladdin had never found the lamp?"]] [[WesternAnimation/SleepingBeauty "What if the sleeping beauty never woke up?"]] [[WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast "What if Belle's mother cursed the Beast?"]] [[WesternAnimation/{{Mulan}} "What if Mulan had to travel to the Underworld?"]] [[WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid1989 "What if Ariel had never defeated Ursula?"]] [[WesternAnimation/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs "What if the Evil Queen poisoned the prince?"]]).

* AlternateContinuity: To the Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon, primarily in giving the characters more developed backstories and relationships. There are other alterations that contradict the movies: In ''The Beast Within'', Belle sees and hears the transformed servants as {{Animate Inanimate Object}}s but the Beast only sees inanimate objects turning up in odd places. ''Sees'' is the key term -- he can ''hear'' them speaking to themselves and/or Belle if he doesn't ''see'' them.
* AmbiguousTimePeriod: The series mixes together several films that are in completely different time periods, making it impossible to pin down the time period of the books.

* EeriePaleSkinnedBrunette: The Odd Sisters adopt this look; their hair is naturally black with the odd white streak, styled into ringlets, but they use white makeup on their faces. With their red, red lips, they get compared to {{Creepy Doll}}s more than once.

* IdiosyncraticCoverArt: The left half of the main character's face against a black background -- but the dust jacket and the actual hard cover beneath it have them in different forms:

* KarmaHoudini: The Odd Sisters get off scot-free in ''Fairest of All'' (a few reader reviews at Amazon.com also argue that the Prince/Beast is this in relation to his crimes in ''The Beast Within'', but this was not intentional). However, ''Poor Unfortunate Soul'' reveals that they do end up being abandoned by their sister Circe over the events of ''The Beast Within'' -- not that they have an epiphany over it or anything.

* NoNameGiven: The Queen and The Prince/The Beast didn't have given names in their films, and don't get them here, either. Several original characters are only known by titles as well: The King, The Maker of Mirrors, The Maestro.

* PurpleIsTheNewBlack: The Odd Sisters wear dark purple, almost black, dresses in the first book. In the later books they usually wear black, and occasionally red.

* TrilogyCreep: ''Poor Unfortunate Soul'' was advertised as the last novel in a trilogy when it was released, but it ended with a SequelHook and ''Mistress of All Evil'' arrived the following year.

* WickedWitch: The Odd Sisters, the Queen (eventually) and Ursula.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The Queen tells Snow of ''Literature/SleepingBeauty''. According to future books, ''WesternAnimation/SleepingBeauty'' is a real thing in their world. It's later shown that [[spoiler:the Odd Sisters have a magical book that writes down stories]], however it's supposed to only [[spoiler:write them as they happen]].

* GoodStepmother: The Evil Queen starts out as a kind and loving step-mother who adores her step-daughter like a biological child. Eventually, she warps into the evil step-mother.

* LostInImitation: Just like the original film, it takes from the [[Film/SnowWhite1916 1916 adaptation]] (and its theatrical version) of the fairy-tale. The King died in a war and the Huntsman is given a SadisticChoice between his life and his children's. The Odd Sisters also could count as {{exp|y}}ies of the unnamed witch from the film.

* AntiVillain: Circe, primarily because she is capable of compassion for those beyond her family (unlike her sisters). While placing a potentially-horrific curse on the Prince, his household, and his best friend is DisproportionateRetribution for his choosing to break off their engagement over her (supposed) status, she does build a CurseEscapeClause into it and honestly hopes he will become a better person before it fully takes hold. She also is appalled by the collateral damage his initial attempt to break the curse results in and takes steps to correct it, and objects to her sisters' interference in the curse's progression.
* AscendedExtra: The Enchantress is given more character and is not only revealed to be Circe, but also was shown to be the Beast's first lover.

* BrainlessBeauty: Princess Tulip Morningstar -- but only because she wasn't given the chance to become worldly-wise and book smart, which would have made her a much happier person.

* CatchAFallingStar: [[spoiler:Princess Tulip]] is rescued from a suicide attempt in this manner in ''The Beast Within''.

* ComplexityAddiction: To bring about the Beast's downfall, the witches seem to think the best way to go about things is to make Belle homesick and hope that the Beast thinks to give her the mirror as she lives, ''then'' tell Gaston to have her father committed by introducing him to their friend the asylum owner, ''then'' anticipating Belle revealing the Beast to everyone, ''then'' expect Gaston to go kill him. Apparently all that was a better plan than casting an enchantment on Belle (they use magic to make her miss her father, so it's not like they couldn't do that) or even having the asylum owner forcibly commit her directly. Keep in mind that the last petal falls from the rose that very evening, so really they would have succeeded in making the curse permanent simply by having Belle spend the night tending to her father!
* ContrivedCoincidence: The Odd Sisters apparently planned for everything in the climax of ''WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast'' to happen, from Belle wanting to visit her father again to the Beast giving her the mirror to Gaston deciding to kill the Beast. This is despite the fact that many of the actions (most notably Belle choosing to reveal the Beast to the townsfolk and Gaston choosing to hunt him) are spur-of-the-moment decisions that would have been nearly impossible to account for.

* {{Foil}}: Princess Tulip is this to Belle -- the former is a woman of high birth who never had to do much thinking of her own and has no backbone, the latter is a commoner who educated herself to the best of her abilities and is able to stand up to the Beast.

* GrandRomanticGesture: The Prince does this twice while wooing Princess Tulip -- first with an elaborate Christmas display in the ballroom, second a path of rose petals that lead into the royal rose garden. He sabotages himself the first time by expressing disgust with her when she runs into his arms ''before'' making herself presentable for the occasion. The second time is successful enough to evoke a HopeSpot, but that ultimately comes to nothing; both times, the fact that he doesn't actually love her gets in the way. He ''does'' come to care about Belle, however, and this contributes to his gesture of "giving her" the castle library succeeding wonderfully.

* LivingStatue: In ''The Beast Within'', the castle and its grounds slowly begin to fill with these as the Prince/Beast's curse takes hold. Only he knows they are alive, and he only sees them move out of the corner of his eye; otherwise they seem to appear and disappear at will.

* SequelHook: In the late going of ''The Beast Within'', Ursula has an offstage role and hints to her backstory, revealed in the next book, are given. The epilogue of ''Poor Unfortunate Soul'' is this for the next stretch of novels, as [[spoiler: the Odd Sisters are rendered comatose and another witch approaches Circe and Nanny]].
* ShoutOut: Circe appearing to be a pig-farmer's daughter to the Prince is this to her namesake in ''Literature/TheOdyssey'', who turned men into pigs.

* SuddenlySuitableSuitor: Gender-swapped and subverted. The Prince breaks off his engagement to Circe upon learning she's only a pig-farmer's daughter -- and then learns that she actually has RoyalBlood, not to mention ''supernatural'' blood, and is overjoyed that he can still marry her. Subverted in that she no longer wants to be his wife by that point, since he was not willing to accept her as a commoner.

* WritersCannotDoMath: ''The Beast Within'' scraps the movie's implication that the Beast was cursed when he was only 11 years old, but keeps the condition of the curse becoming permanent when he turns 21. It's not clear at all how much time passes over the course of the story -- he is old enough to be engaged when he's cursed, and several months pass as the curse begins to take effect, but then years pass after that. Thus the Beast's age remains in doubt.

* BatmanGambit: [[spoiler: Ursula the sea witch]] uses one, exploiting [[spoiler: Ariel's love for Eric, Triton's hatred for humans, Circe's desperation to flee her sisters, '''and''' the Odd Sisters' desperation to get Circe back]].

* DancesAndBalls: In Ursula's backstory in ''Poor Unfortunate Souls'', she appeared at a royal ball in Triton's kingdom in her true form. He was outraged, and wife Queen Athena confronted him over it, a kindness that Ursula never forgot.

* HalfHumanHybrid: When Ursula took revenge on the village of Ipswitch over her father's death, she turned its residents into these. Triton, subsequently used the incident to discredit her and take the throne of ruler of the sea, even though he harbored FantasticRacism against humans.

* PubertySuperpower: It's implied that Ursula began to realize she wasn't human and come into her magical abilities when she hit puberty.

-->''Oh, they don't realize how hateful they really are. They think they're full of magic and light and all things good! Like sugar and honey comes out of their... Well, you get my point.''

* FamilyRelationshipSwitcheroo: [[spoiler:The Odd Sisters]] are [[spoiler:Circe's]] mothers through a spell but raised her as their sibling.

* NatureVersusNurture: Maleficent was destined to be evil and Nanny knew this, but she was attempting to steer her away from that path. Maleficent had a happy, normal childhood despite her ostracization, however she still ended up becoming evil [[spoiler:due to her feelings of betrayal from Nanny]].

* TrueLovesKiss: Maleficent mocks this trope. She complains about the fairies lack of creativity in that so many princesses are saved this way . Maleficent also rants about women having to be saved by men and how many princesses probably feel they owe the men their hand in marriage for saving them.

* WhatTheHellHero: Maleficent doesn't understand how Snow White can just sit around and let her step-mother spiral into a grief-driven madness on her own.

* BlondeBrunetteRedhead: Manea's three daughters: Hazel (silver), Gothel (black), and Primrose (red). Their lack of resemblance is noted to be ominous for witches. It's also [[spoiler:foreshadowing to the fact they're not actually triplets]].

* DudeShesLikeInAComa: Mrs. Tiddlebottom mocks fairy-tales who have princesses kissing sleeping princesses. She doesn't want Rapunzel to end up "kissed by a prince taking far too many liberties with a sleeping princess".
* {{Foreshadowing}}: There's a lot of foreshadowing to [[spoiler:only Gothel being Manea's daughter (and being a daughter made of magic at that)]], such as how Manea fawns over her and the lines where Manea say "[[spoiler:Sisters? Ha! They're nothing to you, Gothel!]]".

** Gothel and Manea's manner of deaths resemble each other. They're both "betrayed" by daughters and turned into dust.
** Unbeknownst to Gothel, [[spoiler:Manea stole Primrose and Hazel from two separate villages and raised them as her own]]. Gothel did a similar thing with Rapunzel.

* OffingTheOffspring: Manea tries to murder her daughters after they betray her. Though, it's later revealed that [[spoiler:Primrose and Hazel were stolen and Manea doesn't view them as her own]].
* Really700YearsOld: Gothel comes from a long-line of Queens of the Dead. They live as long as they want and only die when they feel they're ready to "enter the mists" (presumably referring to Hades' underworld). Gothel herself is several centuries old when she dies.

* SelfMadeOrphan: To [[spoiler:save her sisters]], Gothel sets all the rapunzel flowers on fire, killing her mother.

* DisproportionateRetribution: Anita is HappilyMarried with a man she loves and a devoted pet, while Cruella is widowed, bankrupt and miserable, so Cruella decides to get revenge on both of them by turning Perdita's puppies into a fur coat.

* SanitySlippage: Cruella's "WellDoneDaughterGirl" mindset exceeds to the point where she is willing to slaughter puppies to turn into fashion because she thinks it will make her mother proud. Spoiler alert: It doesn't. Lady De Vil just thinks she's nuts.

* DomesticAbuse: Sir Richard tricked Lady Tremaine into marrying him so [[GoldDigger he could inherit her first husband's money through marriage]], since all a woman's assets went to her husband once they were wed. Once they were married, he forced her to do all the chores, constantly compared her to [[TheLostLenore his first wife]], and denied her freedom of any kind, even the freedom to decorate the house and hire new staff to help her burden. When she tries to leave, Richard [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything refuses to let her go and locks her in her room]].

* TheLostLenore: A ugly side of this trope is seen in the story. Sir Richard, despite remarrying, acts like his first wife is still alive and devotes all his love to her, keeping all her things and portraits around, while treating his second wife like a servant who's only there to care for his child.

* TheUnfavorite: Sir Richard obviously prefers Cinderella to her stepsisters. He lets her continue her lessons and plans to present her at court, while Anastasia and Drizella must do chores instead of learn, and aren't allowed to be presented because Richard thinks they're too ugly.

* ShoutOut: Hades makes various pop culture references, but non of the Witches understand them.

* DeadAllAlong: [[spoiler: At the end of the Book it’s revealed that James actually died during the battle with the Kraken and Neverland is a realm of the Dead.

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* ''Series/OnceUponATime'', a live-action television series
* ''Film/{{Maleficent}}'', a live-action film (''WesternAnimation/SleepingBeauty'')
* ''Literature/AFrozenHeart'', a YA novel (''WesternAnimation/Frozen2013'')
* ''Literature/ATwistedTale'', a YA series by Liz Braswell, Elizabeth Lim and Jen Calonita featuring WhatIf retellings ([[WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}} "What if Aladdin had never found the lamp?"]] [[WesternAnimation/SleepingBeauty "What if the sleeping beauty never woke up?"]] [[WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast "What if Belle's mother cursed the Beast?"]] [[WesternAnimation/{{Mulan}} "What if Mulan had to travel to the Underworld?"]] [[WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid1989 "What if Ariel had never defeated Ursula?"]] [[WesternAnimation/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs "What if the Evil Queen poisoned the prince?"]])
* ''Film/{{Descendants}}'', a live-action TV movie and its accompanying multimedia franchise about the children of Disney villains

* AdaptationalSympathy: The entire series does this to all the Disney Villains ([[MyFriendsAndZoidberg and the Beast]]) by expounding on their backstories. This includes showing that [[WesternAnimation/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs The Evil Queen]] was the victim of an abusive father, [[WesternAnimation/{{Tangled}} Mother Gothel]]'s own mother was just as wicked as she was and almost killed her sisters, [[WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast The Beast]] had a lot of his own worst traits brought out by Gaston, [[WesternAnimation/SleepingBeauty Maleficent]] was the victim of bullying due to a birth defect, while [[WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid1989 Ursula]] was a target for FantasticRacism at the hands of both the people of her native village and even her own brother, King Triton.

* TheFairFolk: Fairies look cute but are quite judgemental and petty. They do, in general, have good intentions but they are certainly not nice.

* AbusiveParents: Cruella’s mother.
* AllForNothing: Lord De Vil, Cruella’s father, tried to save her from ending up like her mother by adjusting his will so that she would inherit everything, and urging her to promise to keep the De Vil name even after she married. But his widow’s abuse ran too deep in Cruella, and she was so desperate for a parent’s love that she willingly signed her inheritance to her mother.
* AmbiguousSituation: Were the earrings from Cruella’s father really cursed, and that is what caused her SanitySlippage? Or did her mother’s abuse just run too deep for Cruella to shake it off?
* DisproportionateRetribution: Anita is HappilyMarried with a man she loves and a devoted pet, while Cruella is widowed, bankrupt and miserable, so Cruella decides to get revenge on both of them by turning Perdita’s puppies into a fur coat.
* ForWantOfANail: {{Discussed}}; the ghostwriter of Cruella’s memoir urges readers to wonder if things could have ended differently for Cruella if certain events had gone differently, like if Anita had agreed to Cruella’s offer to travel with her, or if Jack hadn’t let her sign away her inheritance.
* GoldDigger: Cruella’s mother, who tried to marry her off to steal her inheritance, and the various suitors she tried to set her daughter up with, who went running for the hills once Cruella told them she had to keep her last name or give up her inheritance.
* SanitySlippage: Cruella’s "WellDoneDaughterGirl" mindset exceeds to the point where she is willing to slaughter puppies to turn into fashion because she thinks it will make her mother proud. Spoiler alert: It doesn’t. Lady De Vil just thinks she’s nuts.

* AbusiveParents: Surprisingly, Cinderella’s father, Sir Richard, to both his own daughter and his new wife’s children, just in different ways.
* AdaptationalVillainy: Even from what little we saw and heard of Cinderella’s father, it was always heavily implied that he was a kind man and devoted father who did no wrong. In ''Cold Hearted'', her father, Sir Richard, is actually an [[DomesticAbuse abusive husband]], a GoldDigger, and, ironically, a WickedStepfather.
* CinderellaPlot: Ironically enough, in this adaptation, this happened to Cinderella’s stepsisters before it happened to Cinderella herself. Cinderella’s father, Sir Richard, made Anastasia and Drizella help their mother with the chores and kept them away from court, all while spoiling his own child and declaring that she was better than his stepchildren.
* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Sir Richard treated his second wife and two stepdaughters the same way they would one day treat Cinderella. He forced them into virtual servitude, showed favor to his own daughter over his stepdaughters, kept Anastasia and Drizella away from court because they were “not presentable enough”, and even locked Lady Tremaine in her room when she tried to escape, which was exactly what she did to Cinderella when she tried to get away from her abusive family through the glass slipper test.
* DomesticAbuse: Sir Richard tricked Lady Tremaine into marrying him so [[GoldDigger he could inherit her first husband’s money through marriage]], since all a woman’s assets went to her husband once they were wed. Once they were married, he forced her to do all the chores, constantly compared her to [[TheLostLenore his first wife]], and denied her freedom of any kind, even the freedom to decorate the house and hire new staff to help her burden. When she tries to leave, Richard [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything refuses to let her go and locks her in her room]].
* HourglassPlot: If this backstory is added to the canon movie, the whole story of ''Cinderella'' becomes this. Lady Tremaine and her daughters were first abused by Cinderella’s father, who forced them to do the household chores, all while spoiling his own daughter and constantly comparing his stepdaughters to her, declaring her to be better than them. He even locks Lady Tremaine in her room when she tries to leave her toxic situation. Of course, we all know what she and her daughters do to Cinderella in the future.
* IronicHell: Lady Tremaine and her daughters were forced into servitude by Sir Richard, who spoiled his own daughter and gave her advantages he denied his stepdaughters. After Cinderella ruins her stepmother’s chances of getting away, Lady Tremaine punishes her after her father’s death by forcing her to be a servant and making her TheUnfavorite below her stepsisters like Richard had done with Lady Tremaine and her daughters.
* TheLostLenore: A ugly side of this trope is seen in the story. Sir Richard, despite remarrying, acts like his first wife is still alive and devotes all his love to her, keeping all her things and portraits around, while treating his second wife like a servant who’s only there to care for his child.
* NamedByTheAdaptation: Cinderella’s father is named Richard and the King is named Hubert
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Cinderella told her father that his new wife was planning to leave him, not recognizing that he was an [[DomesticAbuse abusive husband]] and [[WickedStepmother stepfather]] and her stepmother simply wanted out of the abusive situation with him. This act of unwitting betrayal ruins Lady Tremaine’s best chance to leave and ignites her hatred for Cinderella, and her abuse of her stepdaughter is revealed to be revenge for telling her secret and for how her father treated Lady Tremaine and her daughters when he was alive.
* TheUnfavorite: Sir Richard obviously prefers Cinderella to her stepsisters. He lets her continue her lessons and plans to present her at court, while Anastasia and Drizella must do chores instead of learn, and aren’t allowed to be presented because Richard thinks they’re too ugly.
* WickedStepfather: Believe it or not, Cinderella’s father.

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Set within an AlternateContinuity of the Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon that [[{{Crossover}} comes to encompass several films]], each novel gives one of said films a PerspectiveFlip to a villainous, or at least antagonistic, character -- first revealing their heretofore unknown {{Backstory}}, and going on to show how the events the reader ''thought'' they were familiar were more complex than depicted onscreen. The primary linking agents are "The Odd Sisters", witch triplets (Ruby, Martha, and Lucinda) who bedevil and often urge the principal character down the path of darkness.

# ''Poor Unfortunate Soul: A Tale of [[WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid the Sea Witch]]'' (2016)

* AdaptationalSympathy: The entire series does this to all the Disney Villains ([[MyFriendsAndZoidberg and the Beast]]) by expounding on their backstories. This includes showing that [[WesternAnimation/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs The Evil Queen]] was the victim of an abusive father, [[WesternAnimation/{{Tangled}} Mother Gothel]]'s own mother was just as wicked as she was and almost killed her sisters, [[WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast The Beast]] had a lot of his own worst traits brought out by Gaston, [[WesternAnimation/SleepingBeauty Maleficent]] was the victim of bullying due to a birth defect, while [[WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid Ursula]] was a target for FantasticRacism at the hands of both the people of her native village and even her own brother, King Triton.

* {{Crossover}}: The series establishes ''WesternAnimation/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs'', ''WesternAnimation/{{Cinderella}}'', ''WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast'', ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid'', ''WesternAnimation/SleepingBeauty'', and ''WesternAnimation/{{Tangled}}'' as sharing a common setting of several adjoining kingdoms, with the films listed in more or less the order of when their events unfold in the timeline. The Odd Sisters have a hand in the events of ''all'' of them (the presence of the Blue Fairy in ''Mistress of All Evil'' suggests that ''WesternAnimation/{{Pinocchio}}'' also exists in this setting).

* MythologyGag: Attina is Triton's oldest daughter, just like in ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaidIII''. This contrasts with earlier media having Aquata as the elder sister.

* HasTwoMommies: It's revealed that [[spoiler:Circe]] has three mothers. [[spoiler:Her sisters created her using a spell.]]

* AbusiveParents: The Maker of Mirrors was this to his daughter, the Queen. [[spoiler: And though he is dead, ''somehow'' his spirit has become trapped in one of his own mirrors, which the Odd Sisters give her as a wedding present...]]

* BeautyToBeast: The Evil Queen in ''Fairest of All''.

* PrinceCharming: Snow White's unnamed prince.

* RedemptionEqualsDeath: [[spoiler: The Evil Queen]] in the first book.

* AscendedExtra: The Enchantress (aka Circe).

* HairOfGoldHeartOfGold: Princess Tulip -- not that it helps her much.

* PrincessesPreferPink: At least Princess Tulip seems to think this way.

# ''Untitled 10th book featuring [[WesternAnimation/{{Hercules}} Hades]]'' (2023)

* NamesTheSame: As mentioned above, the King’s name is Hubert, the same as Prince Phillip’s father in Sleeping Beauty.

# ''The Odd Sisters: A Tale of [[WesternAnimation/TheBlackCauldron the Three Witches]]'' (2019)