History Literature / TheLanguageOfThorns

* VillainOfAnotherStory: In "When Water Sang Fire," it's implied that Ulla becomes the sea-witch that turns the little mermaid into a cursed human after learning that [[spoiler:Rolfe and Signy left her to die and had six children]], adopting the name "Sankta Ursula of the Waves". Though the circumstances make Ulla sympathetic after what Rolfe did.

* VillainOfAnotherStory: In "When Water Sang Fire," it's implied that Ulla becomes the sea-witch that turns the little mermaid into a cursed human after learning that [[spoiler:Rolfe and Signy leave her to die and have six children]], adopting the name "Sankta Ursula of the Waves". Though the circumstances make Ulla sympathetic after what Rolfe did.

* VillainOfAnotherStory: In "When Water Sang Fire," it's implied that Ulla becomes the sea-witch that turns the little mermaid into a cursed human after learning that [[spoiler:Rolfe and Signy leave her to die and have six children]]. Though the circumstances make Ulla sympathetic after what Rolfe did.

''The Language of Thorns: Midnight Tales and Dangerous Magic'' is a collection of short stories by Creator/LeighBardugo, set in Literature/TheGrishaverse. Each is a twisted fairy tale. It consists of the following stories:

* RealityEnsues:
** Referenced in "Ayama and the Thorn Wood." Each of Ayama's fairy tales add a dose of reality to the endings, showing that princes who are weak-willed are not worth their challenges, and parents often have secrets. Even though it's clear [[spoiler:Ayama and the beast love each other]], they still wait the standard time of courtship due to [[spoiler:the beast being royalty]].
** Leigh Bardugo mentions this in her Afterword about the father of Hansel and Gretel. She says a man willing to let his children starve in the woods must be weak-willed or evil and rewrote the tale accordingly.

* MagicFire: In ''When Water Sang Fire'' Ulla uses dark magic to create a flame that can burn underwater.
* MurderersAreRapists: Implied with [[spoiler: Nadya's father. He has her doppelgänger sit on his lap and it's mentioned that he puts his hands up her skirt. Not helped at all by the fact that all of the victims were girls.]]
* OnlySaneWoman: Kima of Ayama's sisters. She finds out that Ayama bargained for the prince to marry her if Ayama dies on her third task. When the king orders Ayama to face the beast to kill him, Kima is the only one who begs her not to go, saying she doesn't want to marry the prince if Ayama's life is at risk. Ayama reassures her without words that she'll be fine.

# "Ayama and the Thorn Wood": A Zemeni folktale about a young girl who is sent by the king to bargain with a dangerous beast.
# "The Too-Clever Fox": A Ravkan folktale about a cunning fox who tries to outsmart a hunter.
# "The Witch of Duva": A Ravkan folktale about a girl with a mean step-mother who lives in a town where young girls mysteriously disappear. She eventually runs away from home and starts working together with a witch to find the person responsible.
# "Little Knife": A Ravkan folktale about a poor Tidemaker who competes in an EngagementChallenge to win the hand of a beautiful girl.

# "When Water Sang Fire": A Fjerdan folktale about a mermaid with a talent for singing who gets caught in the dangerous politics of the undersea royal family.

* BewareTheNiceOnes: Lula in "Koja the Too-Clever Fox" is considered a sweet nightingale. [[spoiler:It's noted that even though she's a songbird, she has a beak, which she uses to blind Sofiya the Hunter to save Koja]].

# "When Water Sang Fire": A Fjerdan folktale about a mermaid with a talent for singing who gets caught in the dangerous politics of the royal family.

* HappyMarriageCharade: Implied with [[spoiler:Signy and Rolfe at the end. Though Rolfe honors his word and makes her queen, Signy is no longer blind to what he is or what she did to secure his hand]].

# ''Ayama and the Thorn Wood'': A Zemeni folktale about a young girl who is sent by the king to bargain with a dangerous beast.
# ''The Too-Clever Fox'': A Ravkan folktale about a cunning fox who tries to outsmart a hunter.
# ''The Witch of Duva'': A Ravkan folktale about a girl with a mean step-mother who lives in a town where young girls mysteriously disappear. She eventually runs away from home and starts working together with a witch to find the person responsible.
# ''Little Knife'': A Ravkan folktale about a poor Tidemaker who competes in an EngagementChallenge to win the hand of a beautiful girl.
# ''The Soldier Prince'': A folktale from Kerch about a toy that comes to life.
# ''When Water Sang Fire'': A Fjerdan folktale about a mermaid with a talent for singing who gets caught in the dangerous politics of the royal family.

* VillainOfAnotherStory: In "When Water Sang Fire," it's implied that Ulla becomes the sea-witch that turns the little mermaid into a cursed human after learning that [[spoiler:Rolfe and Signy leave her to die and have six children]]. Though the circumstances make Ulla sympathetic about what Rolfe did.

** Referenced in "Ayama and the Thorn Wood." Each of Ayama's fairy tales add a dose of reality to the endings, showing that princes that are weak-willed are not worth their challenges, and parents often have secrets. Even though it's clear [[spoiler:Ayama and the beast love each other]], they still wait the standard time of courtship due to [[spoiler:the beast being royalty]].

''The Language of Thorns: Midnight Tales and Dangerous Magic'' is a collection of short stories by Creator/LeighBardugo, set in Literature/TheGrishaverse. Each is a twisted fairy tale. It consist of the following stories:

# ''The Witch of Duva'': A Ravkan folktale about a girl with a mean step-mother who lives in a town where young girls mysteriously disappaer. She eventually runs away from home and starts working together with a witch to find the person responsible.

** "The Too-Clever Fox": Koja with the help of his friends [[spoiler:is able to kill the hunter, but only after being betrayed and losing his friend the bear]].

** "Ayama and the Thorn Wood": Ayama [[spoiler:chooses to marry the monster she's been sent to kill several times and has secured marriages for her sister, but as a price the king decides to gun for her]].

* MurderersAreRapists: Implied with [[spoiler: Nadya's father. He has her doppelgänger sit on his lap and it's mentioned that he puts his hands up her skirt. Not helped at all by thr fact that all of the victims were girls.]]

* RevengeBeforeReason: The witch in the woods warns Nadya that seeking revenge on the girls' killer comes with a terrible price. Nadya sacrifices her fingers promptly, only to learn that [[spoiler:the real murderer was her father and not her stepmother]].

''The Language of Thorns: Midnight Tales and Dangerous Magic'' is a collection of short stories by Creator/LeighBardugo, set in Literature/TheGrishaverse. Each is a twisted fairy tale.

* MurderersAreRapists: Implied with [[spoiler: Nadya's father. He has her doppelgänger sit on his lap and it's mentioned that he puts his hands up her skirt. Not helped at all that all of the victims were girls.]]

''The Language of Thorns: Midnight Tales and Dangerous Magic'' is a collection of short stories by Creator/LeighBardugo, set in the Grisha universe. Each is a twisted fairy tale.

* RevengeBeforeReason: The witch in the woods warns Nadya that seeking revenge on the girls' killer comes with a terrible price. Nadya sacrifices her fingers promptly, only to learn that [[spoiler:the real murderer was her father and not her stepmother]].

* {{Deconstruction}}: "Little Knife" deconstructs the "three/impossible tasks" genre in fairytales. Yeva’s father assigns three impossible tasks to the men who wish to marry her. However, Yeva repeatedly asks how these tasks will give her a good husband. These questions are repeatedly met with dismissive answers from her father. [[spoiler: In the end, when the river offers her an out, the river is the only one in the story to consider what ''Yeva'' wants.]]

* DownerEnding: There are a few, but "When Water Sang Fire" takes the cake: [[spoiler:Rolfe uses Signy and Ulla to sacrifice an innocent child, ensures Ulla can never become a mermaid again, and leaves her to die in the flames. Ulla sings a song of healing and storms, uses it to heal, escape, and destroy Rolfe's newly acquired kingdom. Rolfe and Signy let the singing magic die out and have six children, but it's implied they're only together because Rolfe honored his word after Signy sacrificed Ulla's knife and ability to change back for him. Ulla exiles herself to an island, awaiting Signy's children so she can make bargains with them]].

* MurderersAreRapists: Implied with [[spoiler: Nadya's father. He has her doppelgänger sit on his lap and it's mentioned that he puts his hands up her skirt]].

* DownerEnding: There are a few, but "When Water Became Fire" takes the cake: [[spoiler:Rolfe uses Signy and Ulla to sacrifice an innocent child, ensures Ulla can never become a mermaid again, and leaves her to die in the flames. Ulla sings a song of healing and storms, uses it to heal, escape, and destroy Rolfe's newly acquired kingdom. Rolfe and Signy let the singing magic die out and have six children, but it's implied they're only together because Rolfe honored his word after Signy sacrificed Ulla's knife and ability to change back for him. Ulla exiles herself to an island, awaiting Signy's children so she can make bargains with them]].

* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: Signy wanted to win her prince's heart. Ulla warned her that Rolfe is ambitious and would not love them unless they provided value. [[spoiler:Thanks to Signy's actions, she marries her prince, but at the cost of Ulla's ability to change back, the kingdom, and the singing magic that she and Ulla once shared]].