History Literature / EllaEnchanted

* GettingSmiliesPaintedOnYourSoul: [[spoiler:Ella, at Lucinda's command. Not helped by the elven mushrooms she eats later, making her shamelessly flirtatious towards the old earl her father wants her to marry. When Mandy snaps her out of it later, she's horrified.]]

* StepServant: basically a retelling of "Literature/{{Cinderella}}" in which Ella's stepmother becomes angry at her for living in her house like a lady when she is actually poor, so when Ella's father Sir Peter is away on business, she turns Ella into a servant.

** Lucinda hands these out like candy, in fact. Her "blessings" tend to focus on making their recipients better children, where "better" is dictated by the sort of book which declares that the proper behavior for a child is to sit quietly and behave like a miniature adult. She's always baffled when the recipient is unhappy with their [[JustForPun Stepford Life]].

** When they [[spoiler:reveal just how cruel they are to Ella in the climax, in the middle of either stopping the prince from proposing to her or encouraging him, Ella's stepfamily end up being excluded from the court and Char's family]].

** When they [[spoiler:reveal just how cruel they are to Ella in the climax, in the middle of either stopping the prince from proposing to her or encouraging him, Ella's father and stepfamily end up being excluded from the court and Char's family]].

* ForcedTransformation: One of Lucinda's other 'gifts' involved turning the recipient into a squirrel; she believes squirrels live charming lives until she spends three months as a squirrel herself.

''Ella Enchanted'' by Creator/GailCarsonLevine is a TwiceToldTale based on the FairyTale "Literature/{{Cinderella}}".

* AbusiveParents: Ella's father, Sir Peter, of the neglectful variety. Dame Olga also counts.

* ApologyGift: As an apology for the whole "being cursed" and making Ella's life a living hell, Lucinda [[spoiler:shows she has reformed by offering a growing and shrinking box at Ella and Char's wedding. Ella is relieved that the gift is useful]].

* BanisterSlide: Ella's father and new step mother walk in on her and the prince enjoying themselves sliding down the giant banister in the castle in which the wedding has just taken place. Her new family members are not amused.
* BewareTheNiceOnes: Charmont. In one of his letters to Ella, he admits to ruining his tutor's career when he was younger just because the man made his sister cry. And years later, he ''still'' resents the tutor.
* BigBrotherInstinct: Charmont is very protective of his little sister, to the point that he sent his former tutor to ruin because he made her cry.
* BigDamnHeroes: [[spoiler:Charmont and his knights saving Ella from the ogres. Subverted slightly by Ella aiding the attempt.]]

** Every one of Lucinda's blessings, which makes her a laughingstock when the other fairies point out the logical flaws. She doesn't think of how the "gift of obedience" can make a child vulnerable to abuse, or how difficult life can be for a human turned into a squirrel.
** Likewise, Mandy explains that the reason she or other fairies can't remove Ella's curse is that doing so would be "big magic" that has rippling consequences. She and Ella scheme to show Lucinda that big magic is terrible and her blessings are more like curses. It works ''too'' well; Lucinda has a breakdown after spending three months as a squirrel and three months as an obedient child and renounces big magic. This means that even ''she'' can't undo Ella's curse.

* EarnYourHappyEnding: Ella spends most of the book being ordered around by people who dislike her and is relegated to being an unpaid servant in her own home. She nearly gives up on breaking her curse when [[spoiler:Lucinda renounces big magic and thus cannot cure her]]. But thanks to her love for Char and desire to save the kingdom, she [[spoiler:breaks her curse through sheer willpower when she denies his marriage proposal despite the wording of it causing the curse to try to force her into acceptance, realizes that she can explain what happened, and marries him with aplomb]].

* GreaterScopeVillain: Lucinda is this, albeit ObliviouslyEvil. She gives "blessings" to children that are actually curses, and does the same for married couples. Anyone who complains is turned into a squirrel. While Dame Olga and her daughters are direct antagonists to Ella, it's Lucinda's fault that Ella is given the "gift" of obedience. Much of the novel involves her or Mandy trying to reason with Lucinda and make her realize what she did was wrong. Sure enough, when Lucinda comes around she can't undo the curse and is very apologetic about it, finally making it up to Ella by ordering her to summon her if she needs help.

* GuessWhoImMarrying: Ella's father marrying Dame Olga.
* HatesSmallTalk: Not exactly ''hate'', but all the Ayorthaians that Charmont stayed with for a year were like this. Not through snobbiness, either; it's just they're more contemplative, more appreciative of silence, and far too polite. Much to Charmont's displeasure. It's also implied that this behavior specifically applies to the Court, where Char was, but doesn't extend to the common Ayorthaians.

** The ogres that encounter Ella take their time with eating her because they sense that she's cursed and would "Cook itself" if they ordered her. They decide to put off their dinner and make her walk with them. Realizing she's trapped, Ella recalls what she knows about Ogrese to convince them they've already eaten. Later, she uses Ogrese to convince them if they're BoundAndGagged by Char's men then they'll be well-fed. By the time it wears off, Ella mocks them for how their own language trapped them.
** In the hopes of getting Lucinda to stop ruining people's lives with her "gifts", [[spoiler:Mandy tricks Lucinda into living as a squirrel and then live as a completely obedient child. Lucinda learns quite quickly that her "blessings" are literally BlessedWithSuck. She agrees to give up "big magic" though she helps Ella with a carriage to the ball and jewelry.]]
* IncapableOfDisobeying: The premise of the "gift of obedience". This "gift" forces Ella to obey any direct order given to her, no matter what.

* KarmaHoudini: Lucinda to a minor extent, though [[spoiler:she changes her ways after learning just how terribly her "blessings" affect the people she chooses.]] There is the fact that there are dozens of children and married couples that she has cursed who aren't going to be cured anytime soon, however, and [[spoiler:who may lack Ella's stubbornness, like her father.]]

** Hattie out of spite orders Ella to no longer be friends with Areida, who is considered lower-class as an innkeeper's daughter. Ella learns from her magical book that Hattie wears a wig, and decides to run away from the school to fulfill the order, find Lucinda at a wedding, and get her curse removed. She steals the wig and takes it with her. We don't hear what happened when the girls woke up to find Ella missing, along with Hattie's hair, but it must have been quite a HumiliationConga.

* LoveAtFirstSight: [[spoiler:Charmont mentions in a letter to Ella that he's loved her ever since they first met at her mother's funeral.]] However, the novel does avert the trope in the original fairy tale of Cinderella and the prince meeting at the ball(s) and falling in love there.

* StatingTheSimpleSolution:
** At first, Ella tries to simply ''ask'' Lucinda to remove her curse, when they meet at a giants' wedding. Lucinda retorts by ordering her to be happy about obedience. Mandy tries to then give Lucinda ATasteOfTheirOwnMedicine by having her turn into a squirrel for a few months, and then a child with the gift of obedience. Lucinda has a breakdown after realizing these "blessings" aren't blessings at all but renounces big magic so she can't undo Ella's curse. Ella gets mad at Mandy for how this plan backfired.
** After Ella gets put into servant-like circumstances, Mandy only thinks to leave after Hattie unmasks Ella at the ball. With her talents, she and Ella could get stable jobs as cooks at any inn. The irony is that Mandy could have run away with Ella at ''any time'' but only tells her to do so when they have a narrow window of escape.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: Mandy challenges Lucinda into [[spoiler:trying out the "gifts" she bestows upon people for a few months, first as a squirrel and then as a completely obedient child. Lucinda quickly finds that the life of a squirrel is incredibly difficult, as she's constantly cold and uncomfortable with rarely a place to sleep, and that's not even getting to the predators. Similarly, when Lucinda takes on the form of a completely obedient child, she finds that being compelled to obey every single order given to her is ''not'' a fun life]].

** Ella's mother, secretly taking the unicorn hairs out of the healing soup that Mandy gave her.
** Hattie attempting to pass off Ella [[spoiler:as a scullery maid to Char after unmasking her at the ball]]. Both she and Char know what Ella looks like, and [[spoiler:Char is not only disgusted upon hearing that Ella's been abused by her stepfamily and treated like a slave, but also he witnesses Hattie's verbal abuse.]]
* TwoPersonLoveTriangle: [[spoiler:When Charmont falls for "Lela," Ella's masked alter ego at the balls. Only a semi-example, since he never takes their interactions beyond friendship and worries about "raising her expectations" because he's resolved never to marry - presumably because he's still not over Ella.]]
* WhatDoesSheSeeInHim: Ella asks Mandy about how her parents met and married each other, since they seemed like such complete opposites.
* WhatYouAreInTheDark: When Charmont confesses [[spoiler:to Ella in a letter that he loves her, for several hours she fantasizes having her freedom away from Dame Olga and Hattie and being with the man she loves]]. When the buzz wears off, however, she thinks through [[spoiler:the consequences of still being cursed, including what it might do to the kingdom, and writes a letter pretending that she has eloped]]. That's right, Ella would rather [[spoiler:sacrifice a chance at freedom than endanger Char and the kingdom]]. This is also how she [[spoiler:breaks the curse, when Char accidentally orders her to accept his proposal, and after struggling for several minutes, she manages to reject it instead.]]

At birth, Ella, the protagonist, is given the "gift" of obedience by Lucinda, a ditzy fairy. Thus Ella is[[BlessedWithSuck forced to obey every direct order given to her, no matter what]]. Eventually Ella learns to fight the curse by delaying her obedience, though she becomes sick when she tries. She [[LoopholeAbuse also works around the curse]] by [[LiteralGenie not doing exactly what is wanted when the wording of an order is not clear enough]].