History Literature / EnchantedForestChronicles

* 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 didn't ''know'' that just touching it would trigger the enchantment; then 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.)

* SheIsTheKing (Third type): In ''Dealing'', Cimorene assumes that if Kazul wins the competition for King of the Dragons, she will be crowned Queen; but Kazul explains that no, King of the Dragons is a gender-neutral title, and Queen of the Dragons is a separate (also gender-neutral) job, with very little power, that nobody much wants. Also an [[{{Inverted Trope}} inversion]], since at the start of the story, the most recent Queen was a male dragon.

* ShoutOut: Naturally, to just about every fairy tale in the public consciousness, but also to some recent literature. The Fire-witch whose castle is full of [[TakenForGranite petrified]] passersby is like the White Witch in ''Literature/TheLionTheWitchAndTheWardrobe'', and the idea that witches and wizards [[KillItWithWater melt in soapy water]] clearly comes from ''Literature/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz'' (as do a pair of ruby slippers and the magic belt that goes with them, both being offered by Gypsy Jack), though in Morwen's case it is subverted. Some of the descriptions of the network of caverns under the Mountains of Morning echo those in ''VideoGame/ColossalCave'', including a maze of twisty little passages.

* ContinuityNod: In ''Dealing'', Cimorene sneaks out of the castle for the first and only time by using an invisibility spell. In ''Searching'', Mendanbar sneaks out of the castle specifically ''not'' using an invisibility spell, because he's apparently done it so many times that by now it'd be "cheating".

--> "He's been trying to figure out how the wizards work their spells," Mendanbar [[TranslatorBuddy explained]], "but he hasn't done it yet."
--> "Why do you want to know that?" Cimorene asked Telemain with renewed suspicion.
--> "Because that's what I do!" Telemain said.

* AchievementsInIgnorance: Invoked for Daystar in ''Talking to Dragons'', since if he [[spoiler:rescued the King of the Enchanted Forest knowing the king was his father, then wizards would track him down.]] Cimorene isn't happy when discussing this plan while Daystar is a baby, but she eventually has no choice when [[spoiler:her husband is taken hostage.]]

* ActionGirl: Cimorene, who matures into...

* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: The King of the Enchanted Forest inherits a link to the magical forces that sustain the realm, which is more than enough power to be a match for any individual spellcaster (though you still run into trouble with groups).

* BackToBackBadasses: One version of the cover art for ''Searching'' shows Mendanbar and Cimorene as such ([[CoversAlwaysLie although they were fighting a bit of a distance away from each other in the actual story]]).

* BeCarefulWhatYouSay: To the nth degree within the Enchanted Forest itself.

** Morwen is offended at the suggestion, although she considers doing it to Arona Vamist because he irritates her so much. Her cats encourage it as they want something to play with.

* {{Bizarchitecture}}: Thanks to centuries of previous kings making changes to the plans on a whim, the castle of the Enchanted Forest has quite a few strange quirks, such as numerous staircases that don't actually go anywhere and a dungeon that can only be accessed from the sixth floor.

* CatsAreMagic: Morwen's cats.

* ContainmentField: Most interestingly when one group puts up a field to keep the other group from getting ''in'', and the other group then puts up a ''second'' field around the first to ensure that the first group can't get in either.

** Near the end ''Calling'', as punishment for his crimes against the Enchanted Forest, Arona Vamist is [[spoiler:made to take on all Killer's transformations, returning Killer to normal and turning Arona into a seven-foot -- sorry, [[InsistentTerminology seven-foot, eleven-inch (counting the ears)]] -- floating blue donkey with wings... and with a bald patch, reflecting his human form being bald]].

* DeathbringerTheAdorable: Killer the rabbit. On meeting him Morwen thinks to herself rabbits have very odd ideas about names, probably because they have to come up with [[ExplosiveBreeder so many of them]]. He ''is'' hit with a variety of transformational spells, but they don't do much to make him more fearsome, just ridiculous, and he's about as brave as you would probably expect an ordinary rabbit to be.

* DroppedABridgeOnHim: At the end of the third book Kazul rather offhandedly [[spoiler:informs the protagonists that she ate Zemenar offscreen.]]

** Discussed. The sword Cimorene wields in ''Calling on Dragons'' described as "the wielder will never be defeated in battle". Cimorene then adds the description never mention the wielder's survival.
* ExploitedImmunity: Witches melt in water, and wizards melt in ''soapy'' water (with some lemon juice). At one point a wizard uses the witch Morwen as a shield, so the stone prince gets both of them with the cleaning solution, correctly deducing that "no one who lives in a house as clean as Morwen's could possibly melt in a bucket of soapsuds".

* HowWouldYouLikeToDie: Where the questioned decided to TakeAThirdOption, [[spoiler: "Old age]]."

* ImmuneToFire: In book 1 (''Dealing With Dragons''), Princesses Cimorene and Alianora cast a spell to make themselves immune to fire, so as to keep from being accidentally burned by the dragons holding them captive.[[note]]holding Alianora captive; Cimorene volunteered to be a dragon's princess[[/note]] The initial casting requires a ritual, but renewing it when it wears off takes only a simple rhyme and a pinch of feverfew. This gets a callback in ''Calling on Dragons'', which also introduces fire witches, who are likewise immune to fire.

* InsubstantialIngredients: In ''Dealing with Dragons'', Cimorene needs hens' teeth to complete a spell of protection against fire, which naturally proves quite hard to find. She eventually gets the ingredient from a genie's wish.

* KilledOffscreen: For all that [[spoiler:Zemenar]] was shaping up to be the series' BigBad, his death is only mentioned in passing: [[spoiler:Kazul ate him at some point during the offscreen battle in the Enchanted Forest]].

* LessonsInSophistication: Cimorene's introduction is a review of her attempts to get better training than her standard Princess Lessons could provide, explaining that she has random cooking, fencing, and Latin skills because she'd bully experts in interesting subjects until they tutored her, much to the chagrin of her parents, who insisted these were not subjects for a "proper" princess. ''All'' of these lessons -- including the boring ones -- turn out to be [[ChekhovsSkill Chekhov's Skills]].
** The only "princess" skill that is of any use to Cimorene is protocol, but only because she learned cooking to go with it and knows who to serve first.

* 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 and 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.

* LoyalPhlebotinum: Mendanbar's sword. It works only for the king or heir of the Enchanted Forest, although a family member can carry it safely.

* MagicMirror: Several of them; mostly used for communication, but they can also be used to find things.

* MenCantKeepHouse: Gender-neutral with the dragons, whose homes tend to be full of stuff just lying around; while cleaning, Cimorene thinks to herself that dragons in general aren't very tidy creatures. Of the three main dragons whose caves were seen or had their status referenced, Kazul's is the tidiest (though Cimorene still winds up picking up a lot of stuff that's just lying around where it doesn't belong), the official vaults for the King of the Dragons were in even worse shape than Kazul's were when Cimorene first moved in, and Roxim's caves in particular are full of clutter to the point where he has a hard time finding anything and is visibly frustrated about it; Cimorene winds up having to help him find the item he's looking for. This is part of why they have princesses, to act as live-in maids and keep things clean and organized for them, and after seeing the abysmal state of Roxim's caves, Cimorene makes a mental note to find a nice princess for him who can handle the job.

** Their son Daystar sticks to the trend, though in the beginning since he didn't ''know'' he was a prince.

** In''The Princess, the Cat, and the Unicorn'', the King of Oslett has advisors who do much the same: they try to convince his daughters that they're supposed to hate one another, and their stepmother that she's supposed to be unpleasant toward her stepdaughters. None of the royal family cares for their behavior; in fact, when Princess Elyssa leaves to seek her fortune, her father tells her that he hoped "she would give the councillors one in the eye". They're ''still'' acting this way after her return with [[spoiler: Prince Riddle]], and it's noted that while everyone else lived happily ever, they were the exceptions because they never gave up trying (and failing) to make the family act as the advisors thought they should.

* MundaneUtility: Mendanbar, King of the Enchanted Forest, uses his great magical powers to dust his house. In fact, this is more or less how he and Cimorene become acquainted with each other -- he introduces himself by using the ancestral weapon linked to the realm of pure enchantment to ''unclog the drain''. She has to forestall him from doing the dishes. Late in ''Talking to Dragons'', he uses his magic to get rid of all the dust in his castle.

* 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.

** The princess that Mendanbar meets early in ''Searching For Dragons''.
** The evil fire-witch in ''Talking to Dragons''.

* NoOntologicalInertia: In several ways, really. Most importantly, after a magic user's death, their spells will cease to exert any influence (unless they're a very powerful/clever magic user). However, the way everything just snaps back to normal after [[spoiler:Daystar brings down the wizards' shield around the castle and releases Mendanbar]] could be seen as an example of this trope as well.

* ObfuscatingStupidity: Cimorene on occasion, mainly in ''Dealing''. She draws from her own sisters' behavior.

* OurDragonsAreDifferent: They seem to be pretty benevolent; only the real JerkAss dragons eat people. Unless those people are wizards. (Also, they're literally genderless and nameless until they're a hundred years old, and turn into toads when they stop acting like dragons.)

** Arona Michaelear Grinogion Vamist, the obnoxious man who tries to make anyone magical do things ''his'' way.

* 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.

** Rumplestiltskin, AKA Herman. He doesn't actually want more kids so he changes his name to Herman so that someone would guess it.

** 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.
** Also, see Morwen, who wears robes (close enough to dresses), makes cider, bakes gingerbread, and gardens deadly nightshade, apples, and lilies. She's also a very powerful practical witch and magic user.

* RebelliousPrincess: Princess Cimorene -- early in the first book, she intentionally gets herself "kidnapped" by a dragon in order to escape her current life and an ArrangedMarriage. Before this she insisted on her teachers teaching her things not normally covered: magic, cooking, politics, fencing, Latin, etc. She also fights off many of the princes and knights to come to rescue her herself to prevent them from bringing her home, and changes her official title (among the dragons) to "Chief Cook and Librarian" to help drive them away.

* RobeAndWizardHat and SquishyWizard: Literally, if you've got soapy water with lemon juice handy.

* SquishyWizard: Or at least water soluble wizards. Okay, so it takes a little soap and citrus too, but that only makes them tough for a stain.

** Princesses are expected to act in "proper" ways, which generally mean being ditzy and useless and waiting for a prince to save them from something and marry them. Cimorene is considered "difficult" by everyone in the castle she grew up in, because her practical mind lead her to wanting to do things that actually served a purpose and let her take care of herself.
** ''Searching for Dragons'' has Cimorene ''think'' this is happening early on. Having just met Mendanbar, she tells him she thinks Kazul is trapped in the Enchanted Forest, so she's going to go search for her. Mendanbar tells her she shouldn't do that, to which Cimorene angrily asks him if it's because he thinks it's improper behavior for a princess. She's momentarily stunned speechless when he explains himself -- he doesn't want her going because he's king of the forest and thus knows that it's an incredibly dangerous place, full of dangerous stuff she's probably never seen before, and that as the close friend and assistant of the already-disappeared king of dragons, her getting lost or killed or enchanted would likely spark ''massive'' political problems between the dragons and the citizens of the forest, which is the very thing they're trying to avoid. Cimorene, after recovering from being startled, admits that her knee-jerk reaction was because she's used to this trope, so it never occurred to her that he might have a ''real'' reason for her not to go. (She still does, but accepts Mendanbar's offer to come along and help her out).

* 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.

* SufficientlyAnalyzedMagic: Again, Telemain. Presumably other magicians too.

** Shiara, plus a bunch of other people who happened by the evil Fire-witch's castle (possible ShoutOut to ''Literature/TheLionTheWitchAndTheWardrobe'').
* TalkingAnimal: They're not uncommon. In particular there are witch's cats (who can only be heard by their witch, meaning the reader is only privy to their conversations in ''Calling''), Killer the rabbit (also in ''Calling''), and Suz the lizard in ''Talking''. A few minor examples also exist, like the squirrel who directs Mendanbar to Morwen in ''Searching'' or the frog who sends Cimorene to the dragons in ''Dealing''.

* TwistedAnkle: Invoked by Cimorene during the period when princes keep trying to rescue her; she gains a period of respite by pretending to one would-be rescuer that she's sprained her ankle and is thus unable to negotiate the path down from the mountain until it heals. (The path is sufficiently narrow and treacherous that the traditional remedy of carrying her to safety is out of the question.)

* GrumpyBear: The gargoyle in Mendanbar's study is almost ''never'' in a good mood.

** In a case similar to the [[Literature/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz Wicked Witch of the West]], it's discovered that wizards can be temporarily melted by soapy water with lemon juice in it. It turns out, however, that magically created soapy lemon water works just as well, and by the end of the series the protagonists have what amounts to an instant wizard-melting spell.

** There's a RunningGag in "Utensile Strength" about Cimorene taking measures to ensure that the palace only hires kitchen maids who can actually do the work, and not disguised princesses on the make. [[spoiler: Due to not having time to interview all the new staff being hired to help during the tourney to find the rightful wielder of the Frying Pan of Doom, one slips past, though she's actually a capable worker.]]

* StandardHeroReward: Half a kingdom and the princess's hand in marriage is said to be the standard reward for rescuing a princess who has been captured by a dragon. When Cimorene learns that her parents have offered it on her behalf, she notes that half the kingdom is not only a considerably larger dowry than she might otherwise have been offered with, as the youngest of several sisters, it's larger than all her elder sisters' dowries put together.

** It becomes clear rather quickly that Anteroll isn't very bright. In ''Dealing With Dragons'', he accidentally lets it slip that a security spell his father proposed for Kazul's lair was very easy to do (judging by Zemenar's reaction, Cimorene guessed that he was planning to pretend it was difficult, as an excuse to snoop around). In ''Searching For Dragons'', he comes to visit Cimorene in, what she points out, is a very suspicious manner (he comes blundering in the back way without announcing himself or bringing a candle). In ''Calling On Dragons'', he is captured by one of Morwen's ''cats'' (he was shrunk at the time granted, but still), and is referred to by Telemain as "the wizard Cimorene keeps melting". The epilogue has Cimorene tell how he was so determined to get revenge on her that when he found her hiding place, he walked right past Mendanbar's magic sword and Cimorene's child and tripped over Kazul's tail before he was melted. In ''Talking To Dragons'', he completely loses any intelligence he has, being melted by Cimorene in the ''first chapter'' just after boasting that he will kill her and take the sword and Daystar. From there, he continues to ineffectually stalk Daystar until he [[spoiler:is finally gotten rid of when he decides to sic a monster on Cimorene...right after her son just learned how to effectively wield the sword that ''channeled all magic in the forest''.]]

** It becomes clear rather quickly that Anteroll isn't very bright. In ''Dealing With Dragons'', he accidentally lets it slip that a security spell his father proposed for Kazul's lair was very easy to do (judging by Zemenar's reaction, Cimorene guessed that he was planning to pretend it was difficult, as an excuse to snoop around). In ''Searching For Dragons'', he comes to visit Cimorene in, what she points out, is a very suspicious manner (he comes blundering in the back way without announcing himself or bringing a candle). In ''Calling On Dragons'', he is captured by one of Morwen's ''cats'' (he was shrunk at the time granted, but still), and is referred to by Telemain as "the wizard Cimorene keeps melting". The epilogue has Cimorene tell how he was so determined to get revenge on her that when he found her hiding place, he walked right past Mendabar's magic sword and Cimorene's child and tripped over Kazul's tail before he was melted. In ''Talking To Dragons'', he completely loses any intelligence he has, being melted by Cimorene in the ''first chapter'' just after boasting that he will kill her and take the sword and Daystar. From there, he continues to ineffectually stalk Daystar until he [[spoiler:is finally gotten rid of when he decides to sic a monster on Cimorene...right after her son just learned how to effectively wield the sword that ''channeled all magic in the forest''.]]

** As seen above in SheIsNotMyGirlfriend, a lot of people in ''Searching for Dragons'' think that Mendabar and Cimorene look good together.

** ''Searching for Dragons'' has Cimorene ''think'' this is happening early on. Having just met Mendabar, she tells him she thinks Kazul is trapped in the Enchanted Forest, so she's going to go search for her. Mendabar tells her she shouldn't do that, to which Cimorene angrily asks him if it's because he thinks it's improper behavior for a princess. She's momentarily stunned speechless when he explains himself -- he doesn't want her going because he's king of the forest and thus knows that it's an incredibly dangerous place, full of dangerous stuff she's probably never seen before, and that as the close friend and assistant of the already-disappeared king of dragons, her getting lost or killed or enchanted would likely spark ''massive'' political problems between the dragons and the citizens of the forest, which is the very thing they're trying to avoid. Cimorene, after recovering from being startled, admits that her knee-jerk reaction was because she's used to this trope, so it never occurred to her that he might have a ''real'' reason for her not to go. (She still does, but accepts Mendabar's offer to come along and help her out).

* TheLostWoods: The Enchanted Forest itself is unpredictable, but ''usually'' benign. It still has its dangers, such as nightshades.

* 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 (though the last holder of that title was in fact male.

%% * 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.

* HeIsNotMyBoyfriend: Cimorene of both Therandil and later Mendanbar, although it's played to [[RunawayFiancee different]] [[EveryoneCanSeeIt effect]].
* HowWouldYouLikeToDie: [[spoiler: "[[TakeAThirdOption Old age]]."]]
* IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming: The book titles all follow the format ''[Gerund] [Preposition] Dragons''. See also InWhichATropeIsDescribed for the chapter titles.

* InformedObscenity: A dragon apologizes for saying "By George!" There's [[TheDragonSlayer a reason]] that name would be shocking to dragons...

* BalefulPolymorph: Quite a few.
** Woraug as a result of being a traitor finds himself turned into a toad, for "not behaving like a dragon". It's hinted that the toad that Cimorene met who told her about how to find dragons was a former dragon for this reason.
** During the wedding preparations at the end of ''Searching For Dragons'', Mendanbar and Telemain go over Fire-Flower Meadow to make sure all the fire-flowers are gone and to deal with any lingering enchantments. They find and disenchant two princesses who've been turned into pinks (a species of flower), a frog prince and a hedgehog who'd once been someone's groom, and then invite all of them to the wedding once they're cured.
** In ''Calling on Dragons'', Killer is hit with multiple ones that ''stack''. [[spoiler:They're eventually transferred to Arona Michaelear Grinogion Vamist.]]
** The Frying Pan of Doom when the rightful owner wields it, [[spoiler:in this case a princess whose uncle tries to kidnap her in full view of a dozen knights and kings]], its target [[spoiler:gets turned into an enormous poached egg.]] This has the benefit of making everyone nearby lose their appetite.

** Near the end ''Calling'', as punishment for his crimes against the Enchanted Forest, Arona Vamist is [[spoiler:made to take on all Killer's transformations, returning Killer to normal and turning Arona into a seven-foot—sorry, [[InsistentTerminology seven-foot, eleven-inch (counting the ears)]]—floating blue donkey with wings...and with a bald patch, reflecting his human form being bald]].

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

** Arona Vamist from ''Calling on Dragons'' counts in a ''big'' way. He basically decides for no reason to act as a weird variation of a MoralGuardian, trying to force people to conform to the "traditional" ways for things - forcing witches to have one black cat, driving an angry group of Fire Witches out of town, etc. It's later revealed that [[spoiler:he did have some protection from the wizards]], but that doesn't explain why, when [[spoiler:he lost said protection]], he thought it was a good idea to contradict Kazul of all people on the behavior of dragons. He also tried to take the moral high ground against the protagonists "kidnapping" him, even though [[spoiler:he was an accomplice to the wizards stealing Mendanbar's sword, which also meant he was an accomplice to their plan of invading the Enchanted Forest.]]

* ExploitedImmunity: Witches melt in water, and wizards melt in ''soapy'' water (with some lemon). At one point a wizard uses the witch Morwen as a shield, so the stone prince gets both of them with the cleaning solution, correctly deducing that "no one who lives in a house as clean as Morwen's could possibly melt in a bucket of soapsuds".

* FairyGodmother: Cimorene has one, who tries to convince her to act like a traditional princess and keeps in touch with her parents. When Cimorene tells her she's tired of being a princess, her fairy godmother insists she's just going through a phase and advises the King and Queen to marry her off as soon as possible. [[spoiler: Princess Annalisa from "Utensile Strength" also has one who, after Rothbern usurps power in her kingdom, helps her escape to the Enchanted Forest so she can hide as a scullery maid; Cimorene remarks that she's probably a traditionalist and didn't think about doing something actually helpful, like aiding Annalisa regain her kingdom.]]

* InterspeciesFriendship: Morwen's cat Jasper is friends with a couple of the mice that live in the castle of the King of the Enchanted Forest.

* LivingStatue: The Stone Prince in ''Dealing with Dragons'', who got to be this way when he went on a quest to free people who'd been turned to stone, and had to fetch water from an enchanted spring to fix them. He was offered the choice of using a plain or a gem-encrusted ladle to fetch the water, and knew that the second one was a trap. However, he figured it [[WhatCouldPossiblyGoWrong couldn't hurt]] to just ''look'' at the fancy ladle, which started turning him to stone as soon as he touched it. So he stuck his other hand in the magical spring, which stopped him being TakenForGranite.

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

* PolitenessJudo: Daystar has a black belt in it.

* 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, Cimorene'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.

* ShootTheHostage: A group of wizards try to use Morwen as a HumanShield when Cimorene, Alianora and the Stone Prince arm themselves with buckets of soapy water. They taunt the trio that if they melt, the witch melts with them. Cimorene and Alianora hesitate, but [[spoiler:the Stone Prince calls their bluff and douses them anyway; Morwen is no worse for wear, just needing dry clothes. She and the Stone Prince say that her "clean living" negated any tendency to melt]]. 

* ShrinkingViolet: Princess Alianora.

-->'''Talking Frog''': No, but I've met a few, and picked up a few things.

** Heck, they have a Traveling, Drinking, and Debating Society. And a men's auxiliary for the EvilUncle contingent.

** Averted by the stepmother in "The Princess, the Cat, and the Unicorn", who actually cares for her three stepdaughters and is annoyed that her husband's advisors keep trying to persuade her to turn them into swans or throw them out of the castle while their father is away. She ''does'' wind up sending her middle stepdaughter to work for an extremely unpleasant fellow queen... whom she hadn't met face-to-face in twenty-five years, and was unaware of her changed attitude. She was quite upset with said fellow queen, who was also an old friend, when she learned the truth.

* DragonsPreferPrincesses: And apparently use them as live-in maids, despite the fact that out of all the Princesses being held prisoner by the various dragons in the Mountains of Morning who actually knows anything about housekeeping.

* TheDitz: Morwen's cat Fiddlesticks.

** Near the end of ''Searching'', 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.

* 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 Frying Pan of Doom to turn the man into a poached egg]].

* NoOntologicalInertia: In several ways, really. Most importantly, after a magic user's death, their spells will cease to exert any influence (unless they're a very powerful/clever magic user). However, the way everything just snaps back to normal after [[spoiler:Daystar brings down the wizards' shield around the castle and releases Mendenbar]] could be seen as an example of this trope as well.

** The circumstances under which Cimorene and Mendenbar knew each other -- the original version of ''Talking'' asserted that the Enchanted Forest and the Mountains of Morning had been closely allied, bringing them into each other's immediate orbit, but in ''Searching'' the relationship between the two kingdoms is shown to be neutral at best, and in fact the two meet while trying to prevent an outbreak of full-scale war. There was further mention of Antorell having actually ''courted'' Cimorene, and that they were married only after the sword was stolen. These were also rectified in the re-release.

** 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 it can begin]].

* UnwantedRescue: Cimorene tells this to all of the princes that come to "rescue" her. When Mendenbar comes, she mentions that she's even threatened to duel the princes herself so that they'll go away.

* RightfulKingReturns: [[spoiler:In one swell foop, the king, prince, and queen at the end of ''Talking to Dragons''.]]

* ContainmentField: Most interestingly when one group puts up a field to keep the other group from getting ''in,'' and the other group then puts up a ''second'' field around the first to ensure that the first group can't get in either.

* StayInTheKitchen: Princesses are expected to act in "proper" ways, which generally mean being ditzy and useless and waiting for a prince to save them from something and marry them. Cimorene is considered "difficult" by everyone in the castle she grew up in, because her practical mind lead her to wanting to do things that actually served a purpose and let her take care of herself. Subverted in ''Searching for Dragons'', when Cimorene has just met Mendabar and tells him she thinks Kazul is trapped in the Enchanted Forest and is going to go search for her. Mendabar tells her she shouldn't do that, to which Cimorene angrily asks him if it's because he thinks it's improper behavior for a princess. He tells her no, it's because he's king of the forest and thus knows that it's an incredibly dangerous place, full of dangerous stuff she's probably never seen before, and plus as the close friend and assistant of the already-disappeared king of dragons, her getting lost or killed or enchanted would likely spark ''massive'' political problems between the dragons and the citizens of the forest, which is the very thing they're trying to avoid. Cimorene is amazed, because this is the first time someone ever gave her a legitimate reason not to do something. (She still goes, but accepts Mendabar's offer to come along and help her out).
* StealthPun: In ''Searching for Dragons,'' Gypsy Jack the traveling salesman has pretty much anything you could ask for. That is to say, he's a jack of all trades.

** In''The Princess, the Cat, and the Unicorn'', the King of Oslett has advisors who do much the same: they try to convince his daughters that they're supposed to hate one another, and their stepmother that she's supposed to be unpleasant toward her stepdaughters. None of the royal family cares for their behavior; in fact, when Princess Elyssa leaves to seek her fortune, her father tells her that he hoped "she would give the councillors one in the eye". They're ''still'' acting this way after her return with [[spoiler: Prince Riddle]], and it's noted that while everyone else lived happily ever, they were the exceptions because they never gave up trying to make the family act as the advisors thought they should.

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

* MobileMaze: The forest constantly shifts itself about. Having a will of its own, it often acts in such a way intentionally, to separate people from each other, to get them lost, or to prevent "undesirables" from entering the forest at all.

** Arona Michaelear Grinogian Vamist acts as one in ''Calling on Dragons'', for some unfathomable reason. He basically spends his days calling up magical beings who he believes aren't "traditional" and trying to convince them to rearrange their lives to suit his tastes.
** In''The Princess, the Cat, and the Unicorn'', the King of Oslett has advisors who do much the same: they try to convince his daughters that they're supposed to hate one another, and their stepmother that she's supposed to be unpleasant toward her stepdaughters. None of the royal family cares for their behavior; in fact, when Princess Elyssa leaves to seek her fortune, her father tells her that he hoped "she would give the councillors one in the eye". They're ''still'' acting this way after her return with [[spoiler: Prince Riddle]].

* RightfulKingReturns: [[spoiler:In one swell foop, the king, prince, and queen.]]

* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: Mendanbar, Cimorene, and Kazul are all quite active -- Mendanbar to a unhealthy degree for a while. Daystar might also count, although he was unaware of any royal heritage at the time.