History Literature / IAmNumberFour

!!Tropes in '''I Am Number Four''':

!!Tropes specific to the novel[[note]]Tropes for the other novels can be found [[Literature/LorienLegacies here]][[/note]]:

* ColourCodedForYourConvenience: The good guys use blue bullets/power/sword. The bad guys use green lasers.* ElementalPowers: The Loric horoscope at the end of some editions of Book 1 (essentially the Western horoscope with exotic names) alludes to this. Like, those born under fire signs are most likely to have Lumen as a legacy.

!!The film and novels contain the following tropes:

* AGodAmI: Eight.

* AdaptationalBadass: Number Six trades in invisibility from the book for teleportation in the movie.
* AffectionateNickname: Nine calls Four "Johnny," referencing his chosen human name from the first book.
* AllMenArePerverts: Number Nine. If he's not talking about fighting, chances are he's talking about women.
* AlternateLandmarkHistory: As explained in ''The Power of Six''.
** And more in "The Rise of Nine".
* AlwaysChaoticEvil: The Mogadorians exterminate all life on a planet (including all members of the species from that planet that escape), then find another planet to wipe clean.[[spoiler: Except Adamus Sutehk, aka Adam, who helped Sam's father escape from the Mogadorians.]]

* AxCrazy: Nine. Dear god, Nine.

** Except, in the second book, Six says that the mating-for-life thing probably isn't true, if Katarina's stories are anything to go by.
* BewareTheNiceOnes: [[TheMedic Marina.]] [[spoiler: [[EyeScream Just ask]] [[SixthRangerTraitor Number Five.]]]]
** TranquilFury: Barring her final PrecisionFStrike, she seemed ''very'' calm the whole time.
* BigBad: Setrakus Ra.
* BigDamnHeroes: Number Six.
* BloodlessCarnage: Instead of gore, the alien characters that die turn to dust and explode in a shower of ash. Averted by the GoryDiscretionShot of the janitor, where you see the automatic mop sweeping his blood off the floor.

* BoisterousBruiser: Nine to horrifying degrees.
* CallBack: Sam asking Six in the second book if the Loriens were involved with Roswell, New Mexico and [[spoiler:Eight]] telling her in book three that they were.

* ChekhovsGun: [[spoiler:Four's comment about the ten Elders of Lorien. Why ten are specified is [[TheReveal revealed]] in ''The Power of Six'' - there are really ten Loric Garde kids, each meant to inherit the powers of the original Elders]]
** [[spoiler: Except Ella, the tenth Garde, was not intended to leave Lorien, so there were only supposed to be nine ChosenOne Loric kids.]].
* ChekhovsSkill: [[spoiler:Those DeflectorShields ain't just for lookin' cool]].
* TheChosenOne: [[spoiler: As of now it's a tie between Four, Eight and Nine as for who will inherit Pittacus Lore's powers (Currently, Four seems to have the edge, being the only one to have the powers of other members of the Garde)]].
* CIAEvilFBIGood: [[spoiler:Jury's out on the CIA and their involvement, but as for the FBI...horribly, horribly inverted. As of ''The Rise of Nine'' the Feebs are working with the Mogs, who provide them with valuable scientific knowledge that puts our military light-years ahead of any other, in exchange for trying to track down the Garde and give them over to them.]]
* ColourCodedForYourConvenience: The good guys use blue bullets/power/sword. The bad guys use red bullets (green in the books).

* DeflectorShields: Number Six.
* DirtyCoward: Setrakus Ra. He's somehow able to [[spoiler:cut off the Garde's Legacies, leading Six to call him a coward because he won't fight them unless he puts them at a distinct disadvantage.]]
* DisneyDeath: The supposed [[TearJerker tragic]] death of [[spoiler:the dog]] turned out to be this.
** [[spoiler:This shouldn't have surprised anyone; when we last see the dog during the climax, it's wounded, but it doesn't turn to dust like all other aliens that die in the movie. Therefore, it's obvious even before it pops up again in the last scene that it survived]].
** [[spoiler: Unfortunately, Bernie Kosar is KilledOffForReal in The Fall of Five.]]
* DistractedByTheSexy: Sam. In fact, the distraction works to break him out of a panic attack.

* EasilyForgiven: Mark, despite being an utter Jerkass throughout the entire film, paint bombing Sam and John's lockers, sending his men to attack John and kidnap Sarah, gets off with an insincere apology at the end.
* Eyescream
* ElementalPowers: The Loric horoscope at the end of some editions of Book 1 (essentially the Western horoscope with exotic names) alludes to this. Like, those born under fire signs are most likely to have Lumen as a legacy.
** The covers of the books also carry elemental motifs relating to characters with large roles in the novel in question.
*** Book 1: Fire, shown by a [[PlayingWithFire Flaming]] [[FireIsRed orange-red sun]] for Four and his Lumen (which comes with heat/fire resistance.)
*** Book 2: Water. Seven, aka [[MeaningfulName Marina]] doesn't [[MakingASplash have hydrokinesis]] so far, but she can breathe underwater, and she can also [[HealingHands heal the sick and injured.]]
**** As of Book 4, she is now AnIcePerson, which fits in with water.
*** Book 3: Earth (more specifically sand, which [[spoiler:is likely a reference to the site of this book's climactic battle in the secret desert facility in New Mexico]].) [[TheBigGuy Nine]] is a strong and stubborn type, but it's all [[StepfordSnarker just a facade.]] Number One is a more obvious example of Earth power: as revealed in the e-novella ''The Fallen Legacies,'' she could cause earthquakes.
*** So far, the best representative for Air would be [[PowerOfTheStorm the weather-changing Six.]] She claims she can control all four elements, however. So far we've only seen her manipulate fire, but only in that one [[OutOfTheInferno iconic movie moment.]]
**** Five also has an air-related power, he can fly.
*** Other, lesser-known elements are at play here. We have Space (Eight's teleportation, Nine's anti-gravity), Beast (Four and Nine can both communicate with animals), and Life (a strange variation with[[spoiler:Ella/Ten's Aeternus ability]].)
* EverythingFades: All aliens (conveniently) leave no corpses. [[spoiler:This is probably a substitute for Henri's [[DueToTheDead funeral pyre]] from the novel.]]
* EverythingIsOnline: Actually played fairly realistically; one of the things that keep Number Four from staying in one place is that whenever something big happens to him that exposes the fact that he's an alien is because people record his powers and upload them to Website/YouTube.
* EvilIsHammy: Kevin Durand had some fun playing the Mog leader.
* {{Expy}}: Every Mogadorian looks like a gill-nosed [[Literature/HarryPotter Lord Voldemort]].
** Only those in the film. ''The Fallen Legacies'' add that only the vat-born Mogs look like this.
** A different one in ''Nine's Legacy'' - Nine and Sandor's dynamic strongly resembles Franchise/{{Batman}} and Robin. Sandor even calls Nine his "young ward" repeatedly.
** Nine comes across like a young [[Series/{{Supernatural}} Dean Winchester]] at times.
* FauxAffablyEvil / LaughablyEvil: The leader of the Mogs delivers some of the funniest lines in the film.

** And, in ''The Rise of Nine,'' we have:
** TheHero: Four
** TheLancer: Six
** TheBigGuy: Nine
** TheChick: Ella
** TheMedic: Marina (also counts as TheChick)
** TheSixthRanger: Eight
* FlashStep: Number Six, particularly in the movie where she can teleport. Eight has this power in the books.

* ForTheEvulz: The Mog leader scares the crap out of a little boy in an adjacent car for no other reason than this.

* GoryDiscretionShot: The deaths of the "They Walk Among Us" guys and the janitor all happen off-screen as well as the death of Number Three's guardian, who's yanked through the door of their hut by one of the [[spoiler:lizard glider creatures]].

* HumanoidAbomination: The Mogs. According to ''The Fallen Legacies,'' most of them are grown in underground vats (because their birth rate has plunged dramatically, possibly due to the pollution of their homeworld.) These vat-born Mogs are the deathly pale, butt-ugly ones like the scouts in the film.
** Natural-born Mogs can more easily pass for human - other than the fact that they are much bigger and taller.

* InformedAttribute: In ''Six's Legacy,'' Six worries that Katarina's name would attract unwanted attention if she continued to use it in Mexico. Other than the [[SpellMyNameWithAnS odd spelling,]] though, Katarina is a perfectly acceptable Spanish name, so there is really no reason to worry about it.
* IronicEcho:
-->'''John:''' "You have... no idea... what I'm capable of."
** Nine mockingly says this to the Mogadorians' human henchmen in The Rise of Nine, before Nine and Four take them out.
* ItsPersonal: [[spoiler:Number Four points to the red-eyed Mogadorian and tells Number Six: "He killed Henri, I want ''him''."]]
** Subverted in ''Six's Legacy.'' [[spoiler:Six wants to say, "That's for Katarina!" when she dispatches a Mog, but she can't because she's really doing it for her own satisfaction.]]
* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: Number Three. [[spoiler: And Henri. Four also narrowly avoids this]]. [[spoiler: Marina does this to Five in book 4, although he [[EyeScream only lost an eye]].]]

* {{Kayfabe}}: The very first page of the book is a "disclaimer" stating the events depicted in the book are real. Also the author bio states the "Pitticus Lore" is the ruling elder of Lorien currently in hiding.
* KineticWeaponsAreJustBetter: Realistically averted: a shotgun is more likely to knock the MadeOfIron bad guys on their ass, and flinging large heavy items at them will probably slow them down, but it takes turning their own overpowered {{BFG}}s on them to actually take them out.

* LuckilyMyShieldWillProtectMe: [[spoiler: Actually more of DeflectorShields, until Number Six uses it along with her own body in the climax to protect Number Four and herself]].
** Number Four also has a bracelet that automatically expands into a shield to protect him from incoming attacks.
* MadeOfIron:
** The only things that seem to be able to kill a Mog is a Mogadorian blade or one of their weapons.
*** Somewhat [[JustifiedTrope justified]]. The Lorien weapons we see amount to a slightly over-sized dagger, and a slightly over-sized energy pistol. The Mog weapons we see are a [[{{BFS}} nastily serrated 3-foot sword]] and various high-energy rifles that either pump out ridiculous amounts of machine-gun-style rounds or single massive bursts. About what you'd expect from [[PlanetOfHats an entire race dedicated to]] [[AlwaysChaoticEvil wiping out other races for no apparent reason other than being sadistic]].
*** The Mogadorians don't destroy planets just because it is said that they ruined their own planet and need resources to survive.
** Sarah's ex has some elements of this as well. He's launched into a second floor window hard enough to crack the glass with his face, then falls back to the ground, and yet he's completely uninjured at the conclusion of the movie.
*** [[CastingGag He is a]] ''[[Series/{{Supernatural}} Winchester]]'' after-all.
** Five can literally become MadeOfIron. One of his legacies is that he can take on the qualities of any material he's touching. he can also use this to become a RubberMan.
* MissingMom: Number Four's parents are both dead, but he mentions to Sarah's family that his parents are just separated. Also, Sam has lived with his dad and stepdad but no mom is ever mentioned.
** Sam lives with his mom in the book, and he has no stepfather.
* MundaneUtility: Number Four's glowing hands. Aside from using them to [[spoiler:recharge Six's powers]], he uses them mainly as flashlights.
* MyNaymeIs: Henri. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] because the Loric accent (which he hasn't really lost) is said to resemble French, so he just has a French name to go with it. (This causes some consternation for Sam's mom, who hears his accent and unsuccessfully tries to converse with him in French, in which she is fluent.)
** The film avoids this issue entirely, however. His name is pronounced like the English "Henry," and he has no unusual accent whatsoever. This may have been done to avoid WhatTheHellIsThatAccent, or to cut down on the [[InfoDump info-dumpage in the prologue.]]

* ObliviousJanitorCut
* OhCrap: Number Six gets two of these: one when an [[spoiler:energy grenade gets thrown at her]], and the second is when she realizes [[spoiler:Four is about to give the leader Mog a PineappleSurprise]] (in slow motion, no less). Sam also has one when he sees [[spoiler:the lizard creatures]] jumping out of the truck, followed immediately by another one when [[spoiler:Bernie Kosar shape-shifts]].
* OohMeAccentsSlipping: Sam (portrayed by Australian actor Callan [=McAuliffe=]) is a repeat offender of this trope, but most notably in the garage scene. British actor Alex Pettyfer slips up as well, but much less frequently.
** In the DVD bonus feature about Number 6, Australian Teresa Palmer claims that one of the things she liked about the role was being able to use her own dialect.
** At least with the latter, it can be assumed that he either has a somewhat odd combination accent due to extensive travel or that he's faking an accent to fit in better with the Americans.
* OutOfTheInferno: Number Six after blowing up Number Four's old house. Justified in that Number Six can shield herself from fire.

* [[spoiler: PineappleSurprise: Number Four kills the Mogadorian leader by using his powers to set off all of the leader's bullets while they're still strapped to his chest.]]

* PrecisionFStrike: In ''The Fallen Legacies,'' [[spoiler:after Number One is killed, her body is brought back stateside so Mog scientists can test a special device that can examine the memories of a corpse - which are seen by this story's teenage Mog narrator, Adamus. Partway through, One herself appears to Adamus, and introduces herself with this trope.]]

* TheQuisling - The guys from the "They Walk Among Us" website. [[spoiler:And the FBI, see above.]]
* RealityHasNoSubtitles: The second book has duel narration between the Spanish Marina and American John. All of Marina's part is in English, until John hears her speak during his narration, when her speech is in Spanish (the English translation is a page before when she shouts it during her narration) and he doesn't get it because he doesn't speak Spanish.

* SequelHook: [[spoiler:The movie end with Number Four and Six searching for Numbers 5-7-8-9 and Sam's dad. We also never saw what's in that box]].
** [[spoiler: The books reveal that the Chests contain various rocks, jewels, and other implements that allow the Garde to develop their powers. Peculiarly, everyone seems to have some different things in each of theirs.]]
* ShapeShifting: [[spoiler: Apparently, the Chimera can change form]]. Number Eight has the same power, and usually assumes the form of Vishnu gods.
* SirSwearsALot: [[spoiler:Number One.]] She's also rude and [[TheSnarkKnight sarcastic enough]] to make Nine (no slouch in snarkage himself) look like a novice.
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Katarina.
* StepfordSnarker: Nine. He got a lot of flak for being tactless and rude, but read book 3 and you'll realize he's nowhere near as smooth as he wants you to think he is. Especially around girls.
* SuperpowerLottery: Number Four.
** {{Averted}} after The Power of Six with Marina and driven to even further heights with Nine, who as of the end of book 3 has the most powers out of all of the Garde.
* SurprisinglySuddenDeath: In the beginning of the film.
* [[spoiler: TakingTheBullet: Eight teleported in front of Five's knife, saving Nine but dying in the process.]]

* TookALevelInBadass: [[spoiler:Sam]] near the end of the film, when he [[spoiler:takes up a Mogadorian blaster rifle to protect himself and Sarah]]. He "[[IKnowMortalKombat plays a lot of Xbox]]."

** [[spoiler: Sarah got upgraded from TheChick LoveInterest into an active fighter, who's proven to be quite deadly with a gun.]]
* [[spoiler: TraumaticSuperPowerAwakening]]: [[TheMedic Marina]] unlocked her first real aggressive power [[spoiler: after Five kills [[LoveInterest Eight]]]].

* YouAreNumberSix: Played with. It's averted in that the numbers are not actually used for ''names'', but as target designations. However, it's deliberately invoked in Number Six's case, who identifies herself as "Number Six" (except one snarky comment to Sam that her name is "Jane Doe") and refers to John only by his number. Like John, Marina and Ella go by their names, while Nine goes by his number.
** Played straight enough in the books where they appear to have no proper names in their own language and he actually refers to himself as 'Four.'

Part of the ''Franchise/LorienLegacies''.

* MoneyDearBoy: The author made no secret that he wrote the book to [[FollowTheLeader cash in on]] the popularity of the Literature/HarryPotter series and try to create a new hit franchise in its stead. That being said, it's much better than something supposedly written as an empty cash grab should be.

* CastTheExpert: Greg Townley showing off his LeParkour as Number Three.

* DyeingForYourArt: Alex Pettyfer dyed his blond hair brown for the beginning of the film. Jake Abel dyed his blonde hair brown for the duration of the film. Callan [=McAuliffe=] had his hair dyed darker for the film, but claims to have lost track of its original color because he's dyed it other colors for roles before.

->''"They killed Number One in Malaysia, Number Two in England, and Number Three in Kenya. [[TitleDrop I am Number Four]]. I know that I am next."''

* DawsonCasting: Played straight as 24-year-old Dianna Agron, 22-year-old Jake Abel and 20-year-old Alex Pettyfer play high school students. 24-year-old Teresa Palmer as 16-year-old Six, too. However, it's averted with Callan [=McAuliffe=] who was 15 at the time of filming, and Greg Townley who was 14.

*** [[ActorAllusion He is a]] ''[[Series/{{Supernatural}} Winchester]]'' [[ActorAllusion after-all]]

While the film series has been shelved due to relatively-poor performance at the box office, the novel series has continued, and is planned to extend as far as six books. The series consists of the following novels thus far:

# ''I Am Number Four'' (2010)
# ''The Power of Six'' (2011)
# ''The Rise of Nine'' (2012)
# ''The Fall of Five'' (2013)

Also included is a string of e-novellas called ''I Am Number Four: The Lost Files.'' These are:

# ''Six's Legacy'' (2011)
# ''Nine's Legacy'' (2012)
# ''The Fallen Legacies'' (2012)
# ''The Search For Sam'' (2012)
# ''The Last Days of Lorien'' (2013)

The first three of these were re-published in print in the summer of 2012 (to help promote ''The Rise of Nine'') as ''[[ColonCancer I Am Number Four: The Lost Files: The Legacies]].'' A second print compilation, ''Secret Histories,'' will be released in July 2013.

'''''I Am Number Four''''' is a YoungAdult sci-fi novel written by Pittacus Lore, the PenName of James Frey (of ''A Million Little Pieces'' [[TheOprahWinfreyShow infamy]]) and Jobie Hughes. Published in 2010, it had the film rights picked up by Creator/DreamWorks over a year before it was even released. TheFilmOfTheBook was released in February 2011, starring Alex Pettyfer, Dianna Agron, Teresa Palmer and Timothy Olyphant. Both the book and the film proved to be decent hits; the book spent six weeks on the children's chapter of the ''[[AmericanNewspapers New York Times]]'' Bestseller List, while the film has already made back its $50 million budget.

* AlternateLandmarkHistory: As explained in ''The Power of Six'' and "The Rise of Nine".

* AlternateLandmarkHistory: As explained in ''The Power of Six''.

* DawsonCasting: Played straight as 24-year-old Dianna Agron, 22-year-old Jake Abel and 20-year-old Alex Pettyfer play high school students. However, it's averted with Callan [=McAuliffe=] who was 15 at the time of filming, and Greg Townley who was 14.

* [[spoiler: TraumaticSuperPowerAwakening]]: [[TheMedic Marina]] unlocked her first real combat power [[spoiler: after Five kills [[LoveInterest Eight]]]].

* TheChosenOne: [[spoiler: As of now it's a tie between Four, Eight and Nine as for who will inherit Pittacus Lore's powers]].

* FlashStep: Number Six, particularly in the movie where she can teleport.

* ShapeShifting: [[spoiler: Apparently, the Chimera can change form]].

# ''The Fall of Five'' (coming August 2013)

# ''The Last Days of Lorien'' (coming April 2013)

* HeyItsThatGuy: [[CatchMeIfYouCan Brian]] [[ThePursuitOfHappyness Howe]].

* BadassNormal: [[spoiler: Sam, who "plays a lot of X-box"]].

** TheSmartGuy: Sam once again for playing X-Box.

* TookALevelInBadass: [[spoiler:Sam]] near the end of the film, when he [[spoiler:takes up a Mogadorian blaster rifle to protect himself and Sarah]]. He "[[IKnowMortalKombat plays a lot of X-Box]]."

* ChekhovsGun: [[spoiler:Four's comment about the ten Elders of Lorien. Why ten are specified is [[TheReveal revealed]] in ''The Power of Six'' - there are really ten Loric Garde kids, each meant to inherit the powers of the original Elders]].

* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: Number Three. [[spoiler: And Henri. Four also narrowly avoids this]].

* AlwaysChaoticEvil: The Mogadorians exterminate all life on a planet (including all members of the species from that planet that escape), then find another planet to wipe clean.

* DawsonCasting: Played straight as 24-year-old Dianna Agron, 22-year-old Jake Abel and 20-year-old Alex Pettyfer play high school students. However, it's averted with Callan [=McAuliffe=] who was 15 at the time of filming.

* BloodKnight: Number Six, but when [[AxCrazy]] Number Nine comes along she seems like an amateur compared to him.

'''''Literature/IAmNumberFour''''' is a YoungAdult sci-fi novel written by Pittacus Lore, the PenName of James Frey (of ''A Million Little Pieces'' [[TheOprahWinfreyShow infamy]]) and Jobie Hughes. Published in 2010, it had the film rights picked up by Creator/DreamWorks over a year before it was even released. TheFilmOfTheBook was released in February 2011, starring Alex Pettyfer, Dianna Agron, Teresa Palmer and Timothy Olyphant. Both the book and the film proved to be decent hits; the book spent six weeks on the children's chapter of the ''[[AmericanNewspapers New York Times]]'' Bestseller List, while the film has already made back its $50 million budget.

** A different one in ''Nine's Legacy'' - Nine and Sandor's dynamic strongly resembles {{Batman}} and Robin. Sandor even calls Nine his "young ward" repeatedly.

The book series has gained Frey (further) infamy and controversy even before it hit shelves: Frey's publishing house, Full Fathom Five, commissioned ''I Am Number Four'' specifically to write "the next ''{{Twilight}}''" or "''HarryPotter''" with the idea of being adapted into a [[CashCowFranchise film franchise]] [[MoneyDearBoy from the onset]] and has been accused of being akin to a fiction sweatshop and producing works of derivative nature. ''New York Magazine'' [[http://nymag.com/arts/books/features/69474/ published an article]] giving more insight into Frey's thought processes behind the series and Full Fathom Five.

* {{Expy}}: Every Mogadorian looks like a gill-nosed [[HarryPotter Lord Voldemort]].

'''''IAmNumberFour''''' is a YoungAdult sci-fi novel written by Pittacus Lore, the PenName of James Frey (of ''A Million Little Pieces'' [[TheOprahWinfreyShow infamy]]) and Jobie Hughes. Published in 2010, it had the film rights picked up by Creator/DreamWorks over a year before it was even released. TheFilmOfTheBook was released in February 2011, starring Alex Pettyfer, Dianna Agron, Teresa Palmer and Timothy Olyphant. Both the book and the film proved to be decent hits; the book spent six weeks on the children's chapter of the ''[[AmericanNewspapers New York Times]]'' Bestseller List, while the film has already made back its $50 million budget.