History Literature / TheTripods

* YouCantFightFate: The Masters believe this. It is implied (or hoped, by the human characters) to be the reason they lost interest in Earth after their cities were destroyed.

* ButWhatAboutTheAstronauts: Addressed in the story. The Masters on Earth are basically the first wave which will eventually end with terraforming the Earth to the Masters' biology. It's stated that the main ship is currently en-route, and more Masters still live elsewhere in the universe. When the ship finally does show up, it simply nukes the remains of the three cities (presumably to prevent any of the Masters' advanced technology from falling into human hands). It then departs, probably having decided Earth isn't worth the effort.

* AdaptationalExpansion:
** In order to create dramatic tension and a sense of hot pursuit, the Black Guards were created for the show. They were essentially a Gestapo for the Masters. These were capped humans who could go where Tripods could not. Actually, the Tripods could go almost anywhere but they would be expensive to continuously use in a TV series. Also, using the Tripods sparingly would make them more dramatic when they did appear. The Black Guards also served as a more visible antagonist in the Masters' city.
** The Power Elite was also created to give Fritz a subplot of his own [[spoiler: Fritz could act as a "inside man" for the free men. This is also where he meets Pierre, who is secretly one of Julius' men on the inside.]].
** The military tripods are a very good idea as the majority of tripods seen were unarmed. Until the prequel book anyway, the question was raised quite often as to how the tripods (all unarmed in the book) were able to take over a modern day Earth with all of its weapons and especially it's air forces.
** The stay with the family at the vineyard (also not in the book) was an opportunity to give Henry and Beanpole their own temporary romantic interests. This served to put them in Will's shoes as they both were hard on him for almost wanting to stay behind at the Count's chateau because he fell in love with Eolise. All of them now having given up what might have been easier lives with loving generous people, they are now on even ground. And it makes them more determined to continue their quest.
** The Cognoscs are a non corporeal [[SufficientlyAdvancedAliens higher order of beings]] to whom the Masters are subservient. One of them takes an interest in Will [[spoiler: and learns everything about their plans to fight the Masters. Fortunately, this Congnosc is sympathetic and dislikes the Masters. It's only response is to wish Will luck and AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence]].

* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture: The setting of the prequel. Given that it was written in TheEighties, some amount of {{Zeerust}}, particularly because of TheGreatPoliticsMessUp.

* StarfishAliens: The Masters.

* NotSoDifferent: The humans' overconfidence in ''When The Tripods Came'' parallels the Tripods' overconfidence in ''The Pool of Fire''. Both pay dearly for this.

* StuffedInTheFridge: [[spoiler:Eloise.]]

* MonochromeCasting: Along with the lack of proactive female characters, there are almost no references to non-white humans, let alone any appearance of them. All of the primary characters are English, French, or German.

* AnAesop: Freedom to think for, and be, yourself.
** Also, the need for humanity to put aside differences and work together.

* FunetikAksent: We get "shmand-fair" for ''[[RailroadIndex chemin-de-fer]]'' and (once) "Zhan-Pole" for "Jean-Paul."

* NonIndicativeName: The Power Elite in the Masters' city. They had no power or authority over others. They were mere technicians, more educated slaves that ran and maintained the nuclear power plant than powered the city. They did have more comfortable lifestyles however, but Borman and his Black Guard still found a way to bully them.

* NonIndicativeName: The Power Elite in the Masters' city. They had no power or authority over others. And were just technicians, more educated slaves that ran the nuclear power plant than powered the city. They did have more comfortable lifestyles however, but Borman and his Black Guard still found a way to bully them.

* NonIndicativeName: The Power Elite in the Masters' city. They had no authority over others. And were just technicians that ran the nuclear power plant. They did have more comfortable lifestyles however, but Borman and his Black Guard still found a way to bully them.

* ANaziByAnyOtherName: The Black Guards. The captain of the Black Guards is even named [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Bormann Borman]].

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: The description of the Masters' "fighting" sounds awfully like an InnocentInaccurate description of sex. Although why the adults seemingly don't catch on is puzzling.

** Well, humans do all right in the beginning, as the Tripods aren't built to withstand missiles. Then the invaders break out the MassHypnosis ...

* TripodTerror: Of course.

* AchillesHeel: The Masters' sensitive spot between the respiratory and ingestive orifices. [[spoiler:Also, they cannot detect alcohol, which is poisonous to them.]]

* FrickinLaserBeams: Not in the novels, but in the TV series after the boys destroy the Tripod with a grenade, red-painted military Tripods are sent out to find them, and shoot up the countryside in an effort to flush them out. This happens again at the end of Season 2, after our heroes and the circus children flee into the woods to escape capping. Which leads to a FridgeLogic moment; if Season 3 had been made, [[spoiler: what was to stop the Tripods from simply shooting down the balloons?]]

* TamperingWithFoodAndDrink: The WeaksauceWeakness of the Masters is discovered accidentally when a drunken guard pours his booze into the food being taken to the captive Master. Attempts have been made to discover their vulnerabilities, but the Master has always detected the poison and refused to eat, so Will just takes the food in, expecting the Master will reject it as usual. He falls into a coma instead. However infiltrating the Master's cities and distilling alcohol given the conditions there presents further problems.

* MinionWithAnFInEvil: Subverted; Will is adopted by a kindly Master who's built a special room for his slave and gives him time off to explore the city, especially after Will saves his life. However Will realises that his role is that of a [[HumanPet favorite pet]], and that his Master's attitude towards humanity is at best patronising. When the Master reveals their plan to terraform the Earth killing everyone on it, his view is that some humans should be preserved in zoos, rather than that genocide is wrong.

* IDidWhatIHadToDo: Which includes accepting people's hospitality and stealing their children. Many of the parents would of course have been glad that their children were free-if they were in their right mind. But as they were capped it's awfully tough luck on them. Will feels very guilty about this.
* IdiotBall: [[spoiler: The Masters tracking Will in ''The White Mountains''. Planting a tracking device on an un-Capped person, possibly acting suspiciously? Good idea. Using a great big hulking Tripod to check up on him and his friends, so they get suspicious? Not so much.]]

* JerkAss: Will can be this way, at times. (Flawed protagonists were something of a Christopher specialty.) So can Henry, in the beginning, but he quickly grows out of it.

* KickTheDog: In the prequel, when a Tripod first appears, it abducts a farmer, demolishes said farmer's house with his wife still inside, and, sure enough, picks up their dog and flings it to its death.

* KillAllHumans: What the Tripods ultimately plan for humans.

* LeaveYourQuestTest: In ''The White Mountains'', Will faces one of these when he faces the prospect of being welcomed into the Count's family and [[spoiler: he thinks]] life with Eloise.

** Will's Master realises something is wrong with Will's cap when he fails to bow after a beating (the first time this had happened, and only because the normally kindly Master was high on drugs).
*** Actually this only becomes clear in retrospect to the Master. The true precipitating incident comes when Will's Master goes into Will's room and finds out that [[spoiler:Will was making notes about the Masters and the City in the margins of his books. In the Master's words, "The cap should forbid that absolutely."]]

* OrphanedSeries: The tv series was cancelled after two seasons, despite a third being on the cards, thus ending it on a really depressing cliffhanger.

* {{Callback}}: The scene in 'When The Tripods Came' with Laurie looking up at the sky and wondering if future humans will look up and dream of peace is a callback to a scene with Will and his friends looking up at the sky during the first book.

* MinionWithAnFInEvil: Subverted; Will is adopted by a kindly Master who's built a special room for his slave and gives him time off to explore the city, especially after Will saves his life. However Will realises that his role is that of a favorite pet, and that his Master's attitude towards humanity is at best patronising. When the Master reveals their plan to terraform the Earth killing everyone on it, his view is that some humans should be preserved in zoos, rather than that the whole genocide is wrong.

* NotHimself: Laurie's first clue that there is something seriously wrong with his Uncle Ian.
** Will's Master realises he's not capped when Will fails to bow after a beating (the first time this had happened, and only because the normally kindly Master was high on drugs).