History Literature / TortallASpysGuide

** Daine's section on Immortals has some information that contradicts ''Literature/TheImmortals''. Here she says dragons are infants for three years and are able to speak to other species at the age of ten. There, she said they were infants for ''thirty'' years, and even after two centuries or so dragons couldn't speak; in a story in ''Literature/TortallAndOtherLands'' Kitten gets the ability when she's sixteen, but it's because she encountered an opal dragon who helped her out.

* ImmortalProcreationClause: Most Immortals, Daine notes, reproduce quite slowly and generally with difficulty. The exception is Spidrens.

* PetTheDog: From Neal's notes, initially Alanna was a difficult master, but as he applied the things she taught him, she clapped him on the back, quoted back a line from the same poem he'd cited part of, and responded to the look on his face by grinning and saying "Yes, I read." It's his first indication that maybe his time as a squire won't be all threats and bad weather.

* JerkassGods: The Spy's Guide notes an exception - there is a god of beggars who will allow spies to disguise themselves as beggars, so long as any money they acquire while in such a guise is given to actual beggars, the god's worshipers. With how gods in the setting can be very touchy and reactive, that's very gracious.

* HardTruthAesop: At the end of ''Mastiff'', after Prince Gareth was rescued his parents pushed the legislature through to end slavery in Tortall. Beka immediately worried about knock-on effects of this, knowing what a big industry slavery was. The timeline in this book shows that after the pronouncement the royals struggled with subjects rebelling for not just the entire reign of Gareth's parents, but ''his'' reign as well. It's true what Jonathan told Kel in ''Squire'' - the Crown has to take into account how the rest of the country will react if it wants to make smoothly accepted necessary changes.

* FateWorseThanDeath: There used to be spells to trap baby griffins in "undeath", where a fledged baby griffin would be sunk partially into a shield, not living or dead, with no way to bring them back.

* TenMinuteRetirement: In her letter Alanna says that she's retiring and having this child and this time will stay at home in Pirate's Swoop to care for it. George, writing to one of his sons, says he expects her resolution will last "as long as winter".

* WeaksauceWeakness: Stormwings ''really'' can't stand the scent of onions.

** Lord Wyldon of Cavall agreed to become the pages' training master, as he was in ''Literature/ProtectorOfTheSmall'', partly so that he could be in a position of power to try to revoke Jonathan's proclamation that women could be knights. This also calls back to Pierce's original plans for Wyldon, in which he'd cause a lot more trouble for the heroes in the name of traditional values.

* FantasticSlur: Merfolk call whales "sea slugs". They don't get on in general. Some whales and merfolk are friends but they're in for mockery from their own kind for it.

* FriendToAllChildren: Three Immortals listed have this tendency - unicorns, merfolk, and Stormwings. Unicorn magic is such that children used as unicorn bait often defend the creatures. Merfolk are vengeful towards those who have angered them but won't hurt children. Stormwings, as has come up earlier in the series, will rescue children from riots. A letter from Corram describes his first encounter with Stormwings - they landed in a tower in Fief Trebond and chatted with his children, who thought they'd get cold and tried to bring them clothing, then waved and called for them to come back as he approached and the Stormwings flew away.

* LaserGuidedAmnesia: It's emphasized that most spywork is boring. Trainee spies or "Nurselings" who yearn for adventure and dramatic skullduggery are watched. If they don't calm down they're evaluated for whether they're suitable to that rare, more exciting form of spycraft - if not, they'll be happy to become Queen's Riders, but first take a potion or have a spell put on them that removes all memory of their spy training and the people they met while doing it.
* MommasBoy: Alanna's son Alan wants to be a knight but at ten ''hated'' the thought of training under Wyldon, who openly said Alanna wasn't a true knight. He writes to Lord Imrah of Legann asking him to take him on - ancient and impoverished would-be knights regularly served as page and squire to an an older warrior. Lord Imrah fully understands why Alan wouldn't want to learn chivalry from a man who despises his mother. (This also serves to explain why Alan, the only one of Alanna's children interested in knighthood, never met Kel in page training.)

* PetTheDog: From Neal's notes, initially Alanna was a difficult master, but as he applied the things he taught her she clapped him on the back, quoted back a line from the same poem he'd cited part of, and responded to the look on his face by grinning and saying "Yes, I read." It's his first indication that maybe his time as a squire won't be all threats and bad weather.

* CurbStompBattle: In the section about killing devices there's an account of a thirteen-person squad that included a mage encountering one and being completely unable to stop it. All but four died and those four have took career-ending injuries - and the device went on to slaughter most of the population of a village.

* FantasticSlur: Merfolk call whales "sea slugs". They don't get on in general.

* UnicornsPreferVirgins: In a section on Immortals which covers them in more detail than in any main series books, unicorns do ''not'' specifically care about virgins but are instead [[FriendToAllChildren friends to children]], who can be used to hunt unicorns, though the pull is two ways and children often try to defend unicorns. The clawed, fanged, flesh-eating unicorns won't protect children but they won't harm them either and prefer to leave the area.

** Lord Wyldon of Cavall agreed to become the pages' training master, as he was in ''Literature/ProtectorOfTheSmall'', partly so that he could be in a position of power to try to revoke Jonathan's proclamation that women could be knights.

* FramingDevice: George rediscovered the documents becauses he had to clean out a room at his home because Alanna had an announcement...

* SurprisePregnancy: Alanna, who is in her late forties in 466 H.E., writes George in October of that year to reveal that she's pregnant as a result of a damaged anti-pregnancy charm and them spending time together in May. This the impetus for both the cleaning where George recovers the documents and Alanna's retirement as King's Champion.

* SurprisePregnancy: Alanna, who is in her late forties in 466 H.E., writing George in October of that year to reveal that she's pregnant as a result of a damaged anti-pregnancy charm and them spending time together in May, is the impetus for both the cleaning where George recovers the documents and Alanna's retirement as King's Champion.