History Literature / EnchantedForestChronicles

#''Talking to Dragons'' (1985; revised version 1993).

* OhNoNotAgain: Cimorene says this at the beginning when meeting Mendanbar, mistaking him for another prince that wants to "rescue" her. He quickly explains that he's a king, wants to meet Kazul for actual diplomatic reasons, and manages to repair her plugged sink.

* OurDragonsAreDifferent: They seem to be pretty benevolent; only the real JerkAss dragons eat people. Unless those people are wizards.

* PublicDomainArtifact: GenieInAbottle, FlyingCarpet, SevenLeagueBoots, [[Literature/BabaYaga flying mortar and pestle]]...virtually every well-known object from European fairy tales is likely to get at least a passing mention -- [[FracturedFairyTale often with a twist]].

* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Cimorene in "Utensile Strength" when she finds out one of the new maids is a runaway princess named Annalisa, who was hiding from her EvilUncle. She defends the girl when Rothbern tries to kidnap her, thinks that Annalisa's fairy godmother ought to have helped her regain the kingdom, and applauds her for being proactive about the situation. In fact, Cimoerene's only rebuke is to the hiring manager and says she'll be sitting in on job interviews because finding good help is hard when each one is secretly royalty in disguise.

** Anyone who tries to use the golden dipper to take some of the Water of Healing, including the stone prince. At least ''he'' had the sense to do the one thing that left him still stone, but [[LivingStatue mobile]]. And in his defense, he didn't want to ''use'' the dipper, he just wanted to ''look'' at it -- he was fully aware that the normal dipper was the correct option the entire time.

* WhatAnIdiot: In-universe, this is Cimorene's reaction to the Stone Prince's story of how he became a walking, talking statue: despite ''knowing'' that he should use the tin dipper and not the golden one to draw water from the magic well, he couldn't resist taking the gold one down from its hook just to ''look'' at. (To be fair to the prince, he saved himself from being completely TakenForGranite with some very quick thinking, which Cimorene also acknowledges, and is generally one of the smarter characters in that particular book.)

* PlayingWithFire: [[WitchSpecies Fire witches]], who [[BurnTheWitch burn themselves]]. [[IncrediblyLamePun Har]].

* WitchSpecies: Fire Witches, although it's possible for them to have {{Muggle}} kids -- just very unlikely.

* IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming: The book titles all follow the format ''[Gerund] [Preposition] Dragons''. See also InWhichATropeIsDeýscribed for the chapter titles.

* IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming: The book titles all follow the format ''[Gerund] [Preposition] Dragons''. See also InWhichATropeIsDescribed for the chapter titles.

** Princess Annalisa's Uncle Rothbern tries to kidnap her in the middle of a tournament in "Utensile Strength", in the Enchanted Forest. Mendenbar nullifies his magic and asks him what the hell he's doing, and the competitors honorably prepare to defend her because they are armed to the tooth and pumped for a fight. It's more or less a SuicideMission. [[spoiler:Fortunately or unfortunately, Annalisa manages to use the Frying Pan of Doom to turn her EvilUncle into a poached egg, stopping any fight before tt can begin]].

* DisposableFiance: Therandil is a case of Bland Perfection. Cimorene starts trying to dispose of him the moment she learns that he ''is'' her fiance.

** Anyone who tries to use the golden dipper to take some of the Water of Healing, including the stone prince. At least ''he'' had the sense to do the one thing that left him still stone, but [[LivingStatue mobile]]. And in his defense, he didn't want to ''use'' the dipper, he just wanted to ''look'' at it- he was fully aware that the normal dipper was the correct option the entire time.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Minor example in ''Searching''. The princess Mendanbar meets in the woods, who is the first to inform him that there's a giant patch of the forest that's been reduced to ashes, is never mentioned again. Mendanbar never even tells anyone else that a completely unprepared young woman is wandering around the woods, let alone send someone to find her and make her go home; given the setting, she could have met any number of unpleasant fates. Of course, given that the forest is semi-sentient, it's also equally plausible that it sent her off without undue harm- ultimately, we don't know.
* WickedStepmother:

%% * GettingCrapPastTheRadar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

* GenderBender: A throwaway line early in ''Dealing'' indicates that dragons are born sexless and choose a gender when they become adults. Yet when a female dragon becomes ruler, they are crowned King regardless of gender, though many readers (and even Cimorene for a brief instance) expected this trope. It turns out that "King of the Dragons" is just a job title that is gender neutral, and that no one has been Queen of the Dragons for years because it's boring.

* "The Improper Princess" - first published in the anthology ''Spaceships and Spells'' (1987). It was later expanded into ''Dealing With Dragons''.
* "The Princess, the Cat, and the Unicorn" - first published in the anthology ''The Unicorn Treasury'' (1988) and reprinted in Wrede's collection ''Book of Enchantments'' (1996).
* "Literature/TheSixtyTwoCursesOfCaliphArenschadd" - first published in the anthology ''A Wizard's Dozen'' (1993) and reprinted in ''Book of Enchantments'' (1996).
* "Utensile Strength" - first published in ''Book of Enchantments'' (1996); set after ''Talking to Dragons''.

* AesopAmnesia: Averted by the protagonists, who learn from their experiences - for instance, in "Utensile Strength", it's stated that [[CallBack a wizard once stole something out of the armory]], which caused no end of trouble; since that mess was straightened out, Mendanbar has put up spells that prevent magic from being used too close to the armory (including his and Daystar's means of magical transport).

** Fire-witches also have cats - Brandel's is Horatio, who begins a romance with Morwen's cat Scorn. Seventeen years later, Morwen gives Shiara a kitten, whom she names Nightwitch.

** Princess Elyssa and [[spoiler: Prince Riddle]] agree to get married after about a day or so of traveling together. [[spoiler: And about two minutes after she breaks the spell on him - he'd been turned into a cat previously.]]

* FunnyAnsweringMachine: Variant in ''Calling on Dragons'' - the gargoyle in Mendanbar's study is put in charge of answering their magic mirror, and tends to be pretty snarky when it does so. Cimorene knows full well how it answers and finds it both funny and useful, since it cuts down on the stupid questions people might ask when they call.

** Daystar almost uses this exact phrase when he promises to try to do whatever he can to help out a princess - and she asks that he hand over his magic sword.

* MadeOfTemptation: There are two dippers next to the Water of Healing. The correct one to use is plain tin. The other is gold and gem-encrusted, and turns you to stone if you pick it up. Every prince who goes on a quest for the Water of Healing is told to use the tin one, but most of them think they know better and turn to stone until one with sense comes along and uses some of the water on them. This happens again and again; even the prince Cimorene gets the story from in ''Dealing With Dragons'', who ''explicitly'' knew better, still gave in to the temptation to take the damn golden dipper off its hook to look at it... which is why he's "the stone prince". (To be fair, he admits that he didn't realize that just ''touching'' it was enough to activate the magic - he thought you had to actually try to ''use'' it before it would enchant you.)

* MyHairCameOutGreen: Unusual variant in Killer's case - he dyes his fur white, and while the dye job works just fine, exposure to magic causes it to wear off and make him blotchy. According to Morwen, spells are hard on cosmetic changes (which is why witches never color their hair) and he won't be able to re-dye it until the spell residue wears off, which will take about six weeks.

** The Sword of the Kings of the Enchanted Forest, and only after the earth, air, and water of the Enchanted Forest and the fire of the sword itself recognize them. It will allow other members of the King's family to hold it as a courtesy, but reacts negatively to anyone else touching it - even Morwen, who was trying to save Cimorene at the time, feels like she's grabbed hold of a red-hot poker when she touches the hilt (apparently the standard defensive means when it's outside the Forest). Months later, her hand still tingles when she remembers that incident.
** The Frying Pan of Doom from "Utensile Strength" has a variant on this sort of enchantment - it can only be ''used'' by the rightful wielder, but it can be ''held'' by anyone else if they're wearing an oven mitt (without one, they get badly burned).

* PrincessClassic: The majority of the princesses, Cimorene excluded, are this - innocent, demure, and overly feminine. However, with a few exceptions [[spoiler:(such as Princess Annalisa in "Utensile Strength")]], it's treated as a negative: most princesses are shown to be stupid, spineless, and generally useless. In all fairness, they're raised to be that way, but most of the protagonists find them annoying. It's the first clue to Mendanbar that something is wrong with the forest: apparently, the forest doesn't like them either and will shift itself around so they don't enter, but the fact that one got in is a sign that there's a problem.

** The trope is played with in that while Cimorene goes on adventures and uses a sword, she also is fine with doing traditionally feminine things like cooking, cleaning, and dressing up (see: her absolute pleasure at discovering her wardrobe at Kazul's is magical and can provide practical work dresses and luxurious gowns as needed). The first book also subverts this with Alianora, who ''tries'' to be a proper princess but fails miserably in various ways (and it's mostly not her fault - aside from the spinning straw into linen thread thing). She still is Cimorene's best friend.

* SchmuckBait: The gold dipper by the Water of Healing - just touching it turns a person to stone. But it's so much prettier than the plain tin dipper next to it that people can't help themselves.

* WitchSpecies: Fire Witches, although it's possible for them to have {{Muggle}} kids - just very unlikely.

* DamselOutOfDistress: Princess Annalisa in "Utensile Strength" when her EvilUncle tries to kidnap her. Cimorene notes that Rothbern wouldn't get far anyway with attempting a kidnapping in the Enchanted forest and Mendenbar nullifying the man's magic, let alone a horde of heroes and knights competing, but Annalisa solves the problem by [[spoiler:using the Friyng Pan of Doom to turn the man into a poached egg]].

* ActionDressRip

* FieryRedhead: Fire-witches, who, as the name implies, specialize in PlayingWithFire, and they have ElementalHair to match. They are shown to have nasty tempers and are prone to tantrums.

* ElementalHair: Fire witches invariably have red hair (which tends to [[FlamingHair burst into flames]] when [[BurningWithAnger they get angry enough]].)

* PrinceCharmingWannabe: Therandil is an odd example. He knows Cimorene doesn't want to marry him, and he doesn't want to marry her either. But they're still supposed to be in an Arranged Marriage, so he continues pursuing her out of a sense of honor and duty even after she runs away from home to be a dragon's captive princess. [[Cimorene gets rid of him in the end by having him rescue a different dragon's captive princess.]]

* ChekhovsSkill: Cimorene tires of the traditional princess training regime, so forces various members of her parents' staff to teach her more masculine skills, like swordfighting and politics. ''All'' of these skills become useful at various points in her career.

** As punishment for his crimes against the Enchanted Forest, Arona Vamist [[spoiler:is made to take on all Killer's transformations, returning Killer to normal and turning Arona into a seven foot tall floating blue winged donkey... with a bald patch, reflecting his human form being bald]].
** Cimorene and Mendenbar suggest to Prince Rupert that being an EvilUncle would actually mean more if he made his nephew do something that said nephew didn't like, with the boy being TooKinkyToTorture. They then recommend sending the nephew to boarding school, where he'll get an education to become a proper prince.

** Mendanbar has a similar, but less effective, door in one his castle attics that takes the person all the way back to the ground floor. Unfortunately, it's one-way, so whomever uses it still has to climb seventeen flights of stairs to get to the attic in the first place.

* TheLoad: Killer. A rabbit turned into a floating blue donkey, Killer spends the whole story whining about not getting enough to eat, eating things that are obviously magical and dangerous despite being warned numerous times and despite having suffered bad consequences already from it, whining about being in danger that his own actions have put him into & thus requiring rescue, whining about having to carry an incapacitated Telemain, and in general being an all-around useless pain to the heroes. The heroes only take him along because he's their link to and proof of the wizards' evil magic plot.

* MagicCauldron: It's a running gag that the giantess Balimore has an endless cauldron that can produce almost any food on demand, and that she lends it out to her neighbors when they're planning a banquet. However, it doesn't do dessert except for burnt mint custard and sour-cream-and-onion ice cream, so she has to do that course herself.

** Cimorene, especially when she was Kazul's princess you are more apt to see her in sensible clothing with an apron. Even after marrying Mendanbar she sticks to it. Mendanbar himself dresses very casually, and hates formal occasions (which he calls stuffy and boring), canceling as many as he can get away with, much to his steward's dismay. At one point, another character chides him for it, saying he should at least wear the crown or else no one would know who he was.

* MundaneSolution: ''[[IncrediblyLamePun Literally]]''.

* NiceGuy: Roxim is easily one of the kindest, friendliest and most rational dragons that Cimorene meets, reminding her of an elderly great-uncle of whom she's rather fond. She even makes a note to herself to find him a nice princess to keep his caves clean and organized, since he clearly needs the help and would treat her well.

** [[spoiler:Morwen shrugs off the soapy-water treatment, and explains it as "clean living".]]

* NotSoHarmlessVillain: The quozzel may look silly (it's a four-foot tall towering mass of black jelly), but it's capable of causing a cave-in in an attempt to kill Daystar and ''does'' break Shiara's arm in doing so.

* OffToBoardingSchool: Mendanbar's suggestion of what the aforementioned EvilUncle should do. He's been ordered by the Wicked Stepmothers' Society to do something evil or lose his membership, but he genuinely likes his nephew, and in addition can't get his nephew to think getting lost in the forest is actually a ''bad'' thing, because the nephew is a [[JumpedAtTheCall wannabe adventurer]]. So Mendanbar tells the uncle that boarding school is the perfect solution, because it's a thing that's conventionally done by nasty people, that the nephew will hate, but won't actually do much harm.

** The Sword of the Kings of the Enchanted Forest, and only after the earth, air and water of the Enchanted Forest and the fire of the sword itself recognize them. It will allow other members of the King's family to hold it as a courtesy, but reacts negatively to anyone else touching it - even Morwen, who was trying to save Cimorene at the time, feels like she's grabbed hold of a red-hot poker when she touches the hilt (apparently the standard defensive means when it's outside the Forest). Months later, her hand still tingles when she remembers that incident.

* OpenSesame: The gate from the Mountains of Morning to the Caves of Fire and Night. Apparently Open Sesame was the ''literal'' passcode for a time, but "word got around and we had to change it."

* PrincessClassic: The majority of the princesses, Cimorene excluded, are this - innocent, demure and overly feminine. However, with a few exceptions [[spoiler:(such as Princess Annalisa in "Utensile Strength")]], it's treated as a negative - most princesses are shown to be stupid, spineless, and generally useless. In all fairness, they're raised to be that way, but most of the protagonists find them annoying. It's the first clue to Mendenbar that something is wrong with the forest- apparently the forest doesn't like them either and will shift itself around so they don't enter, but the fact that one got in is a sign that there's a problem.

* PunchClockVillain: Dobbilan the Giant, encountered ''off'' the clock.
** Rumblestiltskin, AKA Herman. He doesn't actually want more kids so he changes his name to Herman so that someone would guess it.

* RealMenWearPink: In "Utensile Strength", when a tournament is announced to find the rightful wielder of the Frying Pan of Doom, a number of knights and heroes show up even after finding that part of it is a bake-off. And apparently a lot of them were looking forward to it, since they insist on holding it even when the Frying Pan's rightful wielder is found beforehand.
* RebelliousPrincess: Zig-zagged. Cimorene doesn't rebel just because she'd rather play with swords and hates girly princess stuff as Rebellious Princesses tend to - she just sees nothing ''useful'' about learning common princess skills such as dancing and embroidery. She prefers cooking and learning magic. She grits her teeth and learns the princess skills anyway... then runs away to avoid an unwanted marriage. Her training as a princess only comes in handy when dealing with the ranks of the various dragons, and when she wants to pretend to be an "airhead" princess. She ends up becoming queen, and a very happy and efficient one at that.

* SatelliteLoveInterest: Prince Therandil for Cimorene. In fact, he's only counts as a love interest because her parents thought she needed to be married off to somebody and selected Therandil because his family was the first to make an offer, despite the fact that Cimorene disliked him so much that it took conscious effort on her part just to be civil to him. When all efforts to convince her parents and her unwanted fiance to break off the marriage didn't work, she ran away and took sanctuary with Kazul, only to find Therandil showing up to 'rescue' her, mainly because he feels culturally obliged to do so despite the fact that she's perfectly happy where she is. She eventually gets rid of him by convincing him to rescue and marry a different princess being held by another dragon. He sees nothing wrong with this, and becomes interested in this new princess after learning only four things about her: first name, name of her kingdom, hair color, and a description of her crown. Once he's gone, the only time Therandil gets mentioned at all is when Cimorene explains how she got rid of him to her friends.

* StopBeingStereotypical: Inverted with Arona Michaelear Grinogion Vamist, who's made it his life's mission to go around to and pester magical beings to be ''more'' stereotypical - as Morwen puts it, "As near as I can tell, he's trying to get everyone to wear pointy hats and cackle a lot". He's introduced making trouble for Morwen for having a garden that doesn't look sinister enough, not being an aged crone with a stoop, and having multiple non-black cats (which ticks off the cats who are in the room when he calls). He later insists to the King of Dragon's face that she's supposed to eat a princess, not ally with her. He's survived this kind of idiocy because the wizards found him a useful distraction and put a protection spell on him.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: Concerning the Stone Prince turning back to normal, in which he says he isn't sure, because there are advantages to being made of living stone. In which Alianora says "There are disadvantages too" while blushing. Upon hearing that Cimorene starts to giggle.

* OurElvesAreBetter: And the groups of elves are all apparently quite different from each other, to the point where in the last book, some side with the king and others with the wizards.

** Daystar almost uses this exact phrase when he promises to try to do whatever he can to help out a princess - and she asks that he hand over her magic sword.

# ''Dealing with Dragons'' (1990)
# ''Searching for Dragons'' (1991)

* AwesomeButImpractical: The Sword of the Enchanted Forest: powerful magical weapon, chooser of the heir to the kingdom... also good for plumbing. On the other hand, the sword leaks magical energy if you try to take it out of the Forest, and every magic user except its wielder can tell.

** Woraug as a result of being a traitor finds himself turned into a toad, for "not behaving like a dragon".

* EnergyAbsorption: Wizards' staffs have the capacity to suck up ambient magic, which is at best discomfiting and at worst fatal to any ''living'' target.

* GenderBender: A throwaway line early in ''Dealing'' indicates that dragons are born sexless and choose a gender when they become adults. Yet when a female dragon becomes ruler, they are crowned King regardless of gender, though many readers (and even Cimorene for a brief instance) expected this trope.

* PrincessClassic: The majority of the princesses, Cimorene excluded, are this - innocent, demure and overly feminine. However, with a few exceptions [[spoiler:(such as Princess Annalisa in "Utensile Strength")]], it's treated as a negative - most princesses are shown to be stupid, spineless, and generally useless. In all fairness, they're raised to be that way, but most of the protagonists find them annoying.
* PrincessProtagonist: Cimorene, for the first two books. Subverted in ''Calling on Dragons'', since [[spoiler:she's gone from [[RankUp princess pf Linderwall to Queen of the Enchanted Forest]].]]

** Anyone who tries to use the golden dipper to take some of the Water of Healing, including the stone prince. At least ''he'' had the sense to do the one thing that left him still stone, but [[LivingStatue mobile]].

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Minor example in ''Searching''. The princess Mendanbar meets in the woods, who is the first to inform him that there's a giant patch of the forest that's been reduced to ashes, is never mentioned again. Mendanbar never even tells anyone else that a completely unprepared young woman is wandering around the woods, let alone send someone to find her and make her go home; given the setting, she could have met any number of unpleasant fates.

* YourMom: At one point, Morwen's cats get in an argument with Grendel, the cat belonging to Archaniz (the Chairwitch of the Deadly Nightshade Gardening Club, and a friend of Morwen's). While Grendel's remarks aren't translated, Trouble makes use of this trope when he yells back at him:

* EverythingsBetterWithPrincesses
** Subverted in ''Calling on Dragons'', when [[spoiler:Cimorene becomes the queen of the Enchanted Forest.]]
** Also subverted since, with a few exceptions [[spoiler:(such as Princess Annalisa in "Utensile Strength")]], most princesses are stupid, spineless, and generally useless. In all fairness, they're raised to be that way, but most of the protagonists find them annoying.