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* SummonBiggerFish: When Lettie can't reason with Ursula Monkton, she [[spoiler:summons
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* SummonBiggerFish: When Lettie can't reason with Ursula Monkton, she [[spoiler:summons[[spoiler:summons the hunger birds]].
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* ShoutOut: During the narrator's NightmareSequence, a creature wearing [[ComicBook/TheSandman Dream's helmet]] can briefly be seen.
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* PsychosexualHorror: The narrator, as a child, witnessed his father having sex with Ursula Monkton, who was actually an EldritchAbomination in human form. She's still disheveled and half-dressed when she realizes that he's snuck out of the house and flies off to confront him.
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Changed line(s) 127 (click to see context) from:
* SharedUniverse: WordOfGod implies the Hempstocks are related to Liza Hempstock from ''Literature/TheGraveyardBook'' and Daisy Hempstock from ''Literature/{{Stardust''.
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* SharedUniverse: WordOfGod implies the Hempstocks are related to Liza Hempstock from ''Literature/TheGraveyardBook'' and Daisy Hempstock from ''Literature/{{Stardust''.''Literature/{{Stardust}}''.
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Changed line(s) 36 (click to see context) from:
* BazaarOfThBizarre: Lettie had to harvest mandrakes to gain entry to somewhere called the Bazaar to get the toys that will stop Ursula Monkton escaping.
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* BazaarOfThBizarre: BazaarOfTheBizarre: Lettie had to harvest mandrakes to gain entry to somewhere called the Bazaar to get the toys that will stop Ursula Monkton escaping.
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* AlienSky: On one of the more obscure parts of the Hempstock farm, the sky is a dull orange colour similar to a warning light.
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* AlienSky: On one of the more obscure parts of the Hempstock farm, the sky is a dull orange colour similar to a warning light.
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* ChaoticArchitecture: The interior layout of the Hempstock farmhouse changes overnight.
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* ChaoticArchitecture: ChaosArchitecture: The interior layout of the Hempstock farmhouse changes overnight.
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* {{Plantimal}}: The Hempstock farm grows kittens in fields with their tails sticking up out of the soil. They can all be traced back to someone called "Big Oliver" who came to the farm back in pagan times.
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* {{Plantimal}}: {{Planimal}}: The Hempstock farm grows kittens in fields with their tails sticking up out of the soil. They can all be traced back to someone called "Big Oliver" who came to the farm back in pagan times.
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* TimeLord:
to:
* TimeLord:TimeMaster:
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I couldn't find any references to Dr Who. If you're editing that back in then specify where it gets referenced.
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!!Tropes featured include:
to:
* AgonyOfTheFeet:
** More {{Squick}} than painful but we get a graphic description of the narrator pulling a worm-like Ursula Monkton out of a hole in the sole of his foot with a pair of tweezers.
** He already had a scar there from stepping on glass as a toddler.l
* AlienSky: On one of the more obscure parts of the Hempstock farm, the sky is a dull orange colour similar to a warning light.
** More {{Squick}} than painful but we get a graphic description of the narrator pulling a worm-like Ursula Monkton out of a hole in the sole of his foot with a pair of tweezers.
** He already had a scar there from stepping on glass as a toddler.l
* AlienSky: On one of the more obscure parts of the Hempstock farm, the sky is a dull orange colour similar to a warning light.
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%%* BazaarOfThBizarre:
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* BringMyBrownPants: The Narrator pees himself while Ursula Monkton is chasing him through a field.
* ChaoticArchitecture: The interior layout of the Hempstock farmhouse changes overnight.
* FantasticNatureReserve: Parts of the Hempstock farm are implied to be in AnotherDimension and are infested by "[[EldritchAbomination fleas]]" as well as a field where kittens are growing.
* Flight: Ursula Monkton flies while chasing the narrator through the fields.
* FlyingSeafoodSpecial: The Manta Wolf is a flying creature that's basically a hairy manta ray.
* FlyingSeafoodSpecial: The Manta Wolf is a flying creature that's basically a hairy manta ray.
* TheGamblingAddict: The lodger killed himself because he'd gambled all his money and then lost all the money his South African friends had asked him to smuggle to England trying to win it back.
* GiantSpider: Among the "friends" that Ursula Monkton threatens to lock the Narrator in the attic with are spiders as big as dogs.
* {{Glamour}}: Old Mrs Hempstock puts a glamour on the old clothes she lends the Narrator so nobody will notice how strange they look.
* {{Glamour}}: Old Mrs Hempstock puts a glamour on the old clothes she lends the Narrator so nobody will notice how strange they look.
* IKnowYourTrueName: Lettie tries to learn Ursula Monkton's true name so she can bind her. It's [[spoiler:Skarthach of the Keep]] if you're wondering.
* IWantMyMommy: The narrator cries for his parents when Ursula Monkton reveals her true form and flies up into the air with him.
* JackassGenie: Ursula Monkton started as an apparently unintentional one. The ghost of the lodger told her that people just wanted money so she started pelting people with coins and making them appear in people's throats while they were sleeping.
* JackassGenie: Ursula Monkton started as an apparently unintentional one. The ghost of the lodger told her that people just wanted money so she started pelting people with coins and making them appear in people's throats while they were sleeping.
* LanguageOfMagic: Lettie speaks some ancient "first" language while trying to bind Ursula. The narrator can occasionally speak it in his dreams and warp reality however he wants.
* LightningReveal: Lightning reveals a stile in the hedge while the narrator is trying to escape to the Hempstock farm.
* MagicMusic: Lettie tries to bind Ursula by singing in an ancient language to the tune of "Boys and girls come out to play".
* MirrorMonster: One of the neighbours starts seeing his reflection with fingers poking out of his eyes and crab claws coming out of his throat.
* MistakenForProstitute: The owner of the Anders farm had a dream that his wife "was doing bad things. To earn money" then woke up and found her handbag full of cash she couldn't explain.
* MixAndMatchCritters: The Hempstock farm has a "Manta wolf", which is basically a hairy manta ray.
* MoreTeethThanTheOsmondFamily: The Manta wolf has dozens of tiny sharp teeth.
* MistakenForProstitute: The owner of the Anders farm had a dream that his wife "was doing bad things. To earn money" then woke up and found her handbag full of cash she couldn't explain.
* MixAndMatchCritters: The Hempstock farm has a "Manta wolf", which is basically a hairy manta ray.
* MoreTeethThanTheOsmondFamily: The Manta wolf has dozens of tiny sharp teeth.
* OffscreenTeleportation: Ursula Monkton can generally arrive somewhere before the narrator gets there even if there's no logical way she could have got there faster without being seen.
* OneWingedAngel: Ursula Monkton unfurls "as if she were a flesh-coloured umbrella" into her cloth-like EldritchAbomination form when Lettie and the narrator try to make her go home.
* OurGhostsAreDifferent: The Hempstocks laugh at the idea that a ghost is causing all the aaaaàaaaamoney to appear. Apparently they can't make anything and can barely move things.
%%* OurWormholesAreDifferent:
%%* OurWormholesAreDifferent:
* {{Plantimal}}: The Hempstock farm grows kittens in fields with their tails sticking up out of the soil. They can all be traced back to someone called "Big Oliver" who came to the farm back in pagan times.
* PlayingWithFire: Ursula Monkton spits a FireBall into the grass when arguing with Lettie.
* PlayingWithFire: Ursula Monkton spits a FireBall into the grass when arguing with Lettie.
* PrescienceIsPredictable: After the narrator travels through the pond, Lettie says that knowing everything is boring.
* PutOnABus: Ginnie explains Lettie's absence by saying she moved to Australia to live with her father.
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* ScreenToStageAdaptation: The novel was adapted for the stage by the writer Joel Horwood and director Katy Rudd in 2019. Music in the play is by Jherek Bischoff, who also works with Gaiman's ex-wife Creator/AmandaPalmer.
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* ScreenToStageAdaptation: The novel was adapted for the stage by the writer Joel Horwood and director Katy Rudd in 2019. Music in the play is by Jherek Bischoff, who also works with Gaiman's ex-wife Creator/AmandaPalmer.Music/AmandaPalmer.
Changed line(s) 98,100 (click to see context) from:
* ShoutOut
** Several ones to ''Series/DoctorWho''. Was anyone surprised?
** "... and it's a dangerous thing to be a door". ''Literature/{{Neverwhere}}'', much?
** Several ones to ''Series/DoctorWho''. Was anyone surprised?
** "... and it's a dangerous thing to be a door". ''Literature/{{Neverwhere}}'', much?
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* ShoutOut
** Several ones to ''Series/DoctorWho''. Was anyone surprised?
**ShockAndAwe: It's implied Ursula Monkton might be controlling or actually be the lightning storm that occurs when she's following the Narrator through the fields.
* ShoutOut: "... and it's a dangerous thing to be a door". ''Literature/{{Neverwhere}}'', much?
** Several ones to ''Series/DoctorWho''. Was anyone surprised?
**
* ShoutOut: "... and it's a dangerous thing to be a door". ''Literature/{{Neverwhere}}'', much?
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* StatuesqueStunner: Upon first seeing Ursula, the narrator describes her as being very pretty and seeming tall, even for an adult .
* SummonBiggerFish: When Lettie can't reason with Ursula Monkton, she [[spoiler:summons
* SummonBiggerFish: When Lettie can't reason with Ursula Monkton, she [[spoiler:summons
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* TimeLord:
** When the Narrator's parents are coming to take home home from the farm, Old Mrs Hempstock suggests making it so they arrive last Tuesday when nobody was home.
** She ends up doing a "snip and stitch", basically removing the Narrator and his father's arguements from time so that they never happened.
* TrulySingleParent: The Hempstock women claim not to have fathers, you apparently only need them to breed more men.
** When the Narrator's parents are coming to take home home from the farm, Old Mrs Hempstock suggests making it so they arrive last Tuesday when nobody was home.
** She ends up doing a "snip and stitch", basically removing the Narrator and his father's arguements from time so that they never happened.
* TrulySingleParent: The Hempstock women claim not to have fathers, you apparently only need them to breed more men.
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* WeirdMoon:
** Old Mrs Hempstock makes it so a full moon always shines on a certain side of the house, regardless to what phase the moon is in everywhere else.
** As the narrator drives away from the farm at the end, he thinks he sees two moons in the sky behind him.
** Old Mrs Hempstock makes it so a full moon always shines on a certain side of the house, regardless to what phase the moon is in everywhere else.
** As the narrator drives away from the farm at the end, he thinks he sees two moons in the sky behind him.
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!!The Stage play provides examples of:
* AdaptationalSympathy: The Narrator is more upset about the lodger dying here and his taxi running over the cat is dropped.
* AdaptedOut: The narrator's mother is dead before the start of the story in this version.
* ChekhovsSkill: The narrator is shown early on to have the plot of ''Literature/TheLionTheWitchAndTheWardrobe'' memorised. He later [[spoiler:imagines himself in his room reading the book word for word so a mind-reading Ursula Monkton wouldn't realize he was escaping out of his window]].
* DeathByAdaptation: The Narrator's parents:
** It's revealed that the Narrator was attending his father's funeral at the beginning when the book didn't specify whose funeral it was.
** Here the Narrator's mother is recently dead in the main part of the story.
* IdenticalGrandson: The adult Narrator in the FramingDevice is played by the same actor as his father in the flashback.
* ImpaledPalm: Ursula Monkton hid in the palm of the narrator's hand here, instead of his foot.
* PsychicLink: Ursula Monkton has one with the narrator because she used him as a portal and can read his mind.
* PsychicStatic: The narrator imagines himself reading ''Literature/TheLionTheWitchAndTheWardrobe'' so Ursula Monkton will think he's doing that rather than escaping out of his window.
* VillainKiller: Here, Lettie is horrified that the narrator lets the cleaners [[spoiler:kill Ursula Monkton when she can be sent home instead]]
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* YouWontFeelAThing: Old Mrs. Hempstock tells the narrator it won't hurt a bit as she pulls out a long needle, preparing to extract the last piece of worm in his foot. The narrator naturally doesn't believe her (as he knows that's what grown-ups always say before something hurts a lot), but is [[SubvertedTrope pleasantly]] surprised when it really doesn't hurt a bit.
to:
* YouWontFeelAThing: YouWontFeelAThing:
** Old Mrs. Hempstock tells the narrator it won't hurt a bit as she pulls out a long needle, preparing to extract the last piece of worm in his foot. The narrator naturally doesn't believe her (as he knows that's what grown-ups always say before something hurts a lot), but is [[SubvertedTrope pleasantly]] surprised when it really doesn't hurt abit.bit.
** Later on, a hunger bird [[spoiler:in the for of the opal miner says the same about wiping the narrator from reality.]]
** Old Mrs. Hempstock tells the narrator it won't hurt a bit as she pulls out a long needle, preparing to extract the last piece of worm in his foot. The narrator naturally doesn't believe her (as he knows that's what grown-ups always say before something hurts a lot), but is [[SubvertedTrope pleasantly]] surprised when it really doesn't hurt a
** Later on, a hunger bird [[spoiler:in the for of the opal miner says the same about wiping the narrator from reality.]]
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* AnimalisticAbomination: The hunger birds. They come from outside of reality and can ''literally'' eat the world into nothingness to restore it to its natural order, similar to ClockRoaches.
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* EldritchAbomination:
** The hunger birds. They come from outside of reality and can ''literally'' eat the world into nothingness to restore it to its natural order, similar to ClockRoaches.
** Also the "fleas", and, in a somewhat more benevolent version of this trope, the Hempstock women may qualify, given the birds' reaction to Old Mrs. Hempstock in her true form.
** The hunger birds. They come from outside of reality and can ''literally'' eat the world into nothingness to restore it to its natural order, similar to ClockRoaches.
** Also the "fleas", and, in a somewhat more benevolent version of this trope, the Hempstock women may qualify, given the birds' reaction to Old Mrs. Hempstock in her true form.
to:
* EldritchAbomination:
**EldritchAbomination: The hunger birds. They come from outside of reality and can ''literally'' eat the world into nothingness to restore it to its natural order, similar to ClockRoaches.
** Also the"fleas", and, in a somewhat more benevolent version of this trope, the Hempstock women may qualify, given the birds' reaction to Old Mrs. Hempstock in her true form.
**
** Also the
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* PaperKeyRetrievalTrick: The narrator does it to escape his bedroom after Ursula locks him in.
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* PaperKeyRetrievalTrick: The narrator does it to escape his bedroom thinks of doing this after Ursula Monkton locks him in.in his bedroom because he read it in a book once but she didn't leave the key in the door.
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* AstralProjection: One of the potential lodgers who checks out the narrator's room claims to be able to "leave her head and walk around the ceiling".
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* AnimatedAdaptation: Creator/HenrySelick considers this Gaiman's best book and wants to direct a stop-motion movie but it was never officially announced.
* TheFilmOfTheBook: In February 2013, ahead of the novel's publication, Creator/FocusFeatures acquired the rights to adapt it into a feature film. Creator/TomHanks and Creator/GaryGoetzman were announced to be producing through their company Playtone, and Creator/JoeWright was attached to direct. Though this went into DevelopmentHell with no updates since 2019.
* FoodPorn: Given what else they can do, it's no surprise that the Hempstock's homecooked food is as good as homecooked food can be, and the narrator makes sure to point this out.
* FoodPorn: Given what else they can do, it's no surprise that the Hempstock's homecooked food is as good as homecooked food can be, and the narrator makes sure to point this out.
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* FoodPorn: Given what else they can do, it's no surprise that the Hempstock's homecooked food is as good as homecooked food can be, and the narrator makes sure to point this out.
* FramingDevice: The novel starts when the narrator is middle-aged and returning to his home town for a funeral. He visits the street where he grew up, and it jogs his memories of what happened when he was seven...
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* FramingDevice: The novel starts when the narrator is middle-aged and returning to his home town for a funeral. He visits the street where he grew up, and it jogs his memories of what happened when he was seven...
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* ScreenToStageAdaptation: The novel was adapted for the stage by the writer Joel Horwood and director Katy Rudd in 2019. Music in the play is by Jherek Bischoff, who also works with Gaiman's ex-wife Creator/AmandaPalmer.
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* SharedUniverse: WordOfGod says that Liza Hempstock from ''Literature/TheGraveyardBook'' is related to the Hempstocks in this novel.
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* SharedUniverse: WordOfGod says that implies the Hempstocks are related to Liza Hempstock from ''Literature/TheGraveyardBook'' is related to the Hempstocks in this novel.and Daisy Hempstock from ''Literature/{{Stardust''.
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* ThematicSeries: WordOfGod says it's the third part of a trilogy with the first two being the graphic novels ''Violent Cases'' and ''ComicBook/TheTragicalComedyOrComicalTragedyOfMrPunch''.
to:
* ThematicSeries: WordOfGod says it's the third part of a trilogy with the first two being the graphic novels ''Violent Cases'' and ''ComicBook/TheTragicalComedyOrComicalTragedyOfMrPunch''.''ComicBook/MrPunchTheTragicalComedyOrTheComicalTragedy''.
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%%* BazaarOfThBizarre:
* TheStarsAreGoingOut: Near the end, the hunger birds decide that if they can't get to the narrator, they'll just eat everything ''around'' him... including some of the stars in the sky. After everything is resolved, Old Mrs. Hempstock makes them put it back as it was.
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* TheStarsAreGoingOut: Near the end, the hunger birds decide that if they can't get to the narrator, they'll just eat everything ''around'' him... including some of the stars in the sky. After everything is resolved, Old Mrs. Hempstock makes them put it back as it was.
to:
* TheStarsAreGoingOut: Near ThematicSeries: WordOfGod says it's the end, third part of a trilogy with the hunger birds decide that if they can't get to first two being the narrator, they'll just eat everything ''around'' him... including some of the stars in the sky. After everything is resolved, Old Mrs. Hempstock makes them put it back as it was.graphic novels ''Violent Cases'' and ''ComicBook/TheTragicalComedyOrComicalTragedyOfMrPunch''.
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* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory: A lodger actually did steal Gaiman's father's car in which to kill himself in order to escape his gambling debts.
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* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: Skarthach's last words: "I never made any of them do anything." A last mental barb at the narrator? Or was a father really willing to [[spoiler:drown his son]] for a pretty smile?
to:
* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: Skarthach's last words: "I never made any of them do anything." anything". A last mental barb at the narrator? Or was a father really willing to [[spoiler:drown his son]] for a pretty smile?
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* PlotTriggeringDeath: The reason the narrator stops at the Hempstock farm to begin with is because he's been attending a funeral (likely his father's) earlier that day, while the actual plot of the book starts with the family's lodger committing suicide on the borders of the Hempstock farm, which gives the "flea" an opportunity to cross into this world.
* PaperKeyRetrievalTrick: The narrator does it to escape his bedroom after Ursula locks him in.
* PlotTriggeringDeath: The reason the narrator stops at the Hempstock farm to begin with is because he's been attending a funeral (likely his father's) earlier that day, while the actual plot of the book starts with the family's lodger committing suicide on the borders of the Hempstock farm, which gives the "flea" an opportunity to cross into this world.
* PlotTriggeringDeath: The reason the narrator stops at the Hempstock farm to begin with is because he's been attending a funeral (likely his father's) earlier that day, while the actual plot of the book starts with the family's lodger committing suicide on the borders of the Hempstock farm, which gives the "flea" an opportunity to cross into this world.
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** "... and it's a dangerous thing to be a door." ''Literature/{{Neverwhere}}'', much?
to:
** "... and it's a dangerous thing to be a door." door". ''Literature/{{Neverwhere}}'', much?
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Changed line(s) 20 (click to see context) from:
* AbusiveParents: The narrator's father isn't abusive at first. He said that he would never hit his children, since his father hit him, although he does yell... but after he is influenced by Ursula Monkton, the father finds a way around this [[spoiler:by attempting to drown his son in the bathtub. Or maybe not even influenced; when the narrator accuses Ursula of making his father hurt him, she replies that she never '''made'' any of them do anything']].
to:
* AbusiveParents: The narrator's father isn't abusive at first. He said that he would never hit his children, since his father hit him, although he does yell... but after he is influenced by Ursula Monkton, the father finds a way around this [[spoiler:by attempting to drown his son in the bathtub. Or maybe not even influenced; when the narrator accuses Ursula of making his father hurt him, she replies claims that she never '''made'' any of them do anything']].
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* MatureWorkChildProtagonists: Most of the short novel is the narrator flashing back to a time in his childhood when he encountered a family of magical women. Although he tells it from a younger perspective the events become darker and more horrific as it continues.
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* AgeLift: The narrator's aged up to being 12 in the stage adaptation; Lettie's implied to look to be about 11 or 12 as well, but it's not said for certain.
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Deleted line(s) 21 (click to see context) :
* AdultFear: The narrator realizes in hindsight [[spoiler:that his own father tried to drown him]] and thinks that it was Ursula Monkton's influence. Ursula claims that [[spoiler:his father]] was always like that, with the truth being ambiguous. It's implied that he's blocked out the memory not just because of [[spoiler:Lettie sacrificing herself and with it, her memories of what happened]]. He's mildly disturbed by this while attending his father's funeral.
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Changed line(s) 20 (click to see context) from:
* AbusiveParents: The narrator's father isn't abusive at first. He said that he would never hit his children, since his father hit him, although he does yell... but after he is influenced by Ursula Monkton, the father finds a way around this [[spoiler:by attempting to drown his son in the bathtub]].
to:
* AbusiveParents: The narrator's father isn't abusive at first. He said that he would never hit his children, since his father hit him, although he does yell... but after he is influenced by Ursula Monkton, the father finds a way around this [[spoiler:by attempting to drown his son in the bathtub]].bathtub. Or maybe not even influenced; when the narrator accuses Ursula of making his father hurt him, she replies that she never '''made'' any of them do anything']].
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* ItsAllMyFault: Several times throughout the story, both as a kid and as an adult, the narrator briefly (and very painfully) confronts the realization that all of the horrible things that did wouldn't have happened if ''only he didn't let go of Lettie's hand''. Old Mrs. Hempstock, being a rather more practical sort, points out that even less would have if Lettie hadn't insisted on taking him with her - and by extension, that this line of thought goes on forever and is pointless to start on.
to:
* ItsAllMyFault: Several times throughout the story, both as a kid and as an adult, the narrator briefly (and very painfully) confronts the realization that all of the horrible things that did wouldn't have happened if ''only he didn't let go of Lettie's hand''. Old Mrs. Hempstock, being a rather more practical sort, points out that even less would have happened if Lettie hadn't insisted on taking him with her to battle the "flea" - and by extension, that this line of thought goes on forever and is pointless to start on.
* PlotTriggeringDeath: The reason the narrator stops at the Hempstock farm to begin with is because he's been attending a funeral (likely his father's) earlier that day, while the actual plot of the book starts with the family's lodger committing suicide on the borders of the Hempstock farm, which gives the "flea" an opportunity to cross into this world.
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** "... and it's a dangerous thing to be a door" Neverwhere, much?
to:
** "... and it's a dangerous thing to be a door" Neverwhere, door." ''Literature/{{Neverwhere}}'', much?
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Changed line(s) 33 (click to see context) from:
* BrattyHalfPint: The narrator's little sister never has anything nice to say to him. The presence of Ursula Monkton, who she adores for some reason, definitely doesn't make her any nicer.
to:
* BrattyHalfPint: The narrator's little sister never has anything nice to say to him. The presence of Ursula Monkton, who she adores for some reason, definitely Her character doesn't make her any nicer.improve under Ursula Monkton's influence.
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* AdultFear: The narrator realizes in hindsight [[spoiler:that his own father tried to drown him]] and thinks that it was Ursula Monkton's influence. Ursula claims that [[spoiler:his father]] was always like that, with the truth being ambiguous. It's implied that he's blocked out the memory not just because of [[spoiler:Lettie sacrificing herself and with it, her memories of what happened]]. He's mildly disturbed by this while attending his father's funeral.
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* AscendedFridgeHorror: The protagonist's sister has this as an adult. She says she liked Ursula Monkton but it was obvious that she was having an affair with their father in hindsight, asking why none of them saw the signs. The narrator thinks it's that no one wanted to believe it, least of all the kids.
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Changed line(s) 68,69 (click to see context) from:
* LaserGuidedAmnesia: The Hempstock women can alter people's memories quite skillfully.
* TheLoad: The narrator doesn't directly influence the plot. He doesn't instigate it and he's not instrumental to resolving it. He just hangs along and tries to stay alive long enough to be rescued. Justified, since he's seven and is a regular human boy surrounded by reality- warping eldritch abominations.
* TheLoad: The narrator doesn't directly influence the plot. He doesn't instigate it and he's not instrumental to resolving it. He just hangs along and tries to stay alive long enough to be rescued. Justified, since he's seven and is a regular human boy surrounded by reality- warping eldritch abominations.
to:
* LaserGuidedAmnesia: The Hempstock women can alter people's memories quite skillfully.
skillfully. Sometimes it's not clear if they altered the memories themselves or [[RealityWarper actually changed the events]].
* TheLoad: The narrator doesn't directly influence the plot. He doesn't instigate it and he's not instrumental to resolving it. He just hangs along and tries to stay alive long enough to be rescued. Justified, since he's seven and is a regular human boy surrounded byreality- warping reality-warping eldritch abominations.
* TheLoad: The narrator doesn't directly influence the plot. He doesn't instigate it and he's not instrumental to resolving it. He just hangs along and tries to stay alive long enough to be rescued. Justified, since he's seven and is a regular human boy surrounded by
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* TheReveal: At the end, the narrator finally asks Old Mrs. Hempstock why he came back there and she tells him that he always comes back. He always remembers for a bit and then leaves. [[spoiler:It's Lettie bringing him back, wanting to know how his life is going. Wanting to know if it was worth it.]]
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* TheReveal: At the end, the narrator finally asks Old Mrs. Hempstock why he came back there and she tells him that he always comes back. He always remembers for a bit and then leaves. [[spoiler:It's Lettie bringing him back, wanting to know how his life is going. Wanting to know if it her sacrifice was worth it.]]
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No longer a trope.
Deleted line(s) 96 (click to see context) :
* YourCheatingHeart: Ursula Monkton has an affair with the narrator's father. [[spoiler:His sister only realizes as an adult what might have happened.]]
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* BrattyHalfPint: The narrator's little sister never has anything nice to say to him. The presence of Ursula Monkton, who she adores for some reason, definitely doesn't make her any nicer.
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* MagicalNanny: Of the worst possible kind.
