Literature / A Twisted Tale

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• Adaptational Expansion: Many of the stories expand on the lore of each world, like naming Prince Eric's kingdom or giving back stories to characters like the Fairy Godmother.
• Adaptational Protagonist: A few of the later books shift focus from the canonical protagonist to another prominent character, possibly for the sake of having a female lead. Examples include When You Wish Upon a Star focusing on the Blue Fairy instead of Pinocchio, Suddenly Super following Violet instead of Bob, Sally's Lament has Sally has the protagonist (with Jack as the deuteragonist), Be Prepared focusing on Nala during Simba's absence, and the upcoming Adventure is Out There! is set to have Ellie as its viewpoint character, albeit with her budding relationship with Carl being important. That said, the vast majority of the books keep the main hero(es) from their respective movie as the lead.
• Alternate Universe: Aside from the general “what if” plot point, a few stories have a few more divergences from canon that aren't specifically tied to the main change. Such as Gus and Jaq being regular mice, Mr. Smee being a hallucination by Hook, etc.
• Cerebus Rollercoaster: This series fluctuates wildly when it comes to its maturity and violence levels. In general, most of the books are varying degrees of Darker and Edgier compared to the Disney Animated Canon movies they are based on. The violence reaches its peak in the books A Whole New World and Once Upon a Dream, featuring gruesome deaths, blood, and ruthless villains. Part of Your World is near the middle, with a more serious tone and darker themes than its base movie, but not quite as horrifying. At the opposite end of the scale, Conceal, Don't Feel is Lighter and Softer, a stark outlier from the other dark Twisted Tales. It is the only Twisted Tale that does not show any blood whatsoever; what little violence in this installment never exceeds what is already in the movie it is based on. The Anthology book is also on the lighter side overall, though it varies from story to story, and it may be because a number of them are lower-stakes stories in comparison to the full novels.
• Darker and Edgier: Since the books are usually about the bad guy almost winning and expanding on the villains, these Disney stories are subject to this by the series. There's a lot more blood, death, murder, tyranny, revolution, mentions of abuse, and so on. Heck, Part of Your World even establishes that Cthulhu exists in the The Little Mermaid universe.
• Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Most of the books are named after one of the most noteworthy songs of their source movie or a lyric of it. The Pixar movie-based entries are the main exception due to not being musicals, meaning they instead have titles based around relevant words or phrases from the movies. Others exceptions are Mirror, Mirror, Princess of Thieves, Set In Stone, and Nobody Gets Left Behind which are instead taken from the Evil Queen's question for the Magic Mirror, a play on a character's epithet, a common idiom that conveniently alludes to Excalbur, and the film's Arc Words, respectively.
• Origins Episode: A few of the books, namely When You Wish Upon a Star and Cruel Truth slightly betray the "Twist" concept by more so acting as prequels focusing on the characters' backstories before the movies they're based on. The former does eventually catch up with the main plot/events of Pinocchio, but from the Blue Fairy's perspective, while the latter is an expansion on the concept of Anita and Cruella having been friends as teenagers while also adding Roger to the mix.
• Sequel Episode: Similar to the above trope, books like "Go the Distance", "Unbirthday", and "Set in Stone" end up being more like potential sequels rather than "What If…?" scenarios, picking up after the events of their respective movies with little to no apparent "twists" that sent them off of their path.
• Thematic Series: Outside of sharing the central premise of the books all being set in alternate universes where events diverge from the events of their respective movie, the books don't intersect in any way. As such, they can be read in any order, and entries can be skipped entirely with no issue.
• What If?: The main hook of the series; every key plot twist can be traced back to a key moment in the original narrative.

• Adaptational Backstory Change: The orphan children that Aladdin and Jasmine meet in the movie are related to people in Aladdin's social circle. The brother and sister are also the nephew and niece of Duban, one of Aladdin's friends.
• Adaptational Name Change: In the comic series, Aladdin's mother was called Zena. Here, she's known as Hatefeh.
• Adaptational Nice Guy: Razoul of all people turns out to be a lot more pleasant compared to how much of a sadistic brute he was in the movie. He's more understanding of Aladdin's thievery as he witnessed the boy grow up before he became captain and isn't as cruel-hearted as in the movie.
• Ascended Extra: Remember the woman in yellow who remarks about Aladdin "getting into trouble early"? In this story, she becomes a major participant in the uprising against Jafar as she rallies the other townsfolk to fight on behalf of Jasmine and Aladdin.
• Bittersweet Ending: Jafar spites the heroes by using his last wish to erase all types of magic. Not only does this leave Genie powerless, but it also makes it harder for Aladdin and Jasmine to fix the mess the evil vizier left behind. Despite this setback, Jasmine still decides to push forward and rebuild the kingdom into a better system for everyone. She is promoted to the Sultana of Agrabah, and as her first decrees, she appoints Morgiana as her new vizier and makes Aladdin her First Consort.
• Broad Strokes: Aladdin and the King of Thieves is referenced, with Aladdin's father having left the family in search of a better life for them and Aladdin's mother dying while her husband is gone, resulting in Aladdin becoming a street rat. However, it is stated that Abu was a gift from Aladdin's mother, while Aladdin: The Series establishes that Abu left a circus of thieves to join Aladdin.
• Broken Pedestal: Jasmine experiences this when she learns of the social problems in Agrabah and acknowledges that her father was a more flawed ruler than she believed.
• Death by Adaptation: The Sultan is killed early on as part of Jafar's coup, and Jafar sacrifices Iago and Carpet to gain more power. Razoul and several of his soldiers would also be killed and used as undead minions.
• Flanderization: The Sultan suffers from this. His tendency to play with toys in the films is exaggerated to be his core trait as a character, to the point of neglecting his kingdom. This behavior is always mentioned in conjunction with him, even after his death.
• Humanity Ensues: Jafar wishing for all magic in the world to die with him has the side effect of turning Genie into a human, with the only hint of his former nature being a slight blue tint to his skin. Since magic is as natural to Djinns as something like walking upright or reading books is to humans, he's not happy about this turn of events. And he's none too fond of the whole walking thing either.
• It's All About Me: A good assessment of Jafar's final act, as he wishes that all magic should die with him.
• The Magic Goes Away: The last thing Jafar does before dying is to wish for all magic in the world to die with him, which also has the side effect of turning Genie into a human.
• Morality Pet: A dark variation of this; Jasmine speculates that Jafar sacrificed Iago to try and see the future because Iago was the only thing Jafar remotely cared for, and otherwise his sacrifice would have meant nothing.
• Mythology Gag: Morgiana shares the same name as another resourceful woman from the Arabian Nights collection.
• Original Character: Duban and Morgiana, Aladdin's childhood friends who grew up on the streets and join him and Jasmine's rebellion.
• Ragtag Band of Misfits: A good description of Aladdin and Jasmine's efforts to oppose Jafar, with the aid of Agrabah's street rats and lower-class citizens.
• Shoo Out the Clowns: Iago, who provided comic relief in the movie, is nowhere to be seen in the darker version of the tale shown in A Whole New World. This is because he was killed so that Jafar could see into the future.
• Walking the Earth: Feeling regret for killing a human (Jafar), Duban decides to leave Agrabah and travel the world to work out his issues. At the very least, he's accompanied by the now-human Genie.

• Armor-Piercing Question: At one point, Maleficent is shown torturing Aurora's parents, and explicitly asks if they never tried to keep their daughter in their lives because they would have preferred a son.
• Death by Adaptation: Maleficent kills Aurora's parents, King Stefan, and Queen Leah, to use their blood to maintain her power in the dream world. This is especially heartbreaking as it means they will never be reunited with the daughter they were forced to give up as a baby.
• Meaningful Rename: Aurora mentally renames herself Aurora Rose, a blend of her real name and her Briar Rose alias, after regaining memories of her actual life while still in the dream world.
• Parental Substitute: In Aurora's dream, Maleficent becomes one to Aurora after uprooting her Abusive Parents.
• Shout-Out: To The Bible — Aurora references the story of Noah's Ark and Philip's horse is presumably named for Samson.
• Shown Their Work: Philip states that his horse, Samson, is part Nisaean. Niseans is an extinct horse breed, but are historically known to be treasured for being "super-horses". At the time of Sleeping Beauty (roughly 14th century to 16th century), the Nisean horse breed would've been very endangered or extinct according to known history.
• Spot the Imposter: At one point, Maleficent tries to trick Aurora by sending a duplicate of Philip to confront her; the real Philip confirms his identity by sharing various embarrassing secrets that the impostor can't believe he'd tell anyone.
• What the Hell, Hero?: While Aurora never has a chance to deliver it directly, after she learns of the circumstances that led to her being raised by the fairies, she often asks why her parents hid her away or why her guardians never told her about her real history, as they could have told her about her real family and presented it as a game without telling her that it was true.

• Adaptational Jerkass: Lumière's maid/feather duster girlfriend (who goes unnamed here) is made obnoxious, mean, and unashamedly prejudiced against magical beings, which causes him to lose all interest in her.
• Age Lift: When returned to normal, Belle finds that Mrs. Potts isn't actually old like she assumed.
• Arc Words: "Magic always comes back on itself" is uttered several times throughout the story, including at the end.
• Ascended Extra:
  • Monsieur D'Arque just had a couple of scenes in the original film, but here is revealed to have been part of the long-term prosecution of magical beings in the region.
  • The bookstore owner (named Monsieur Levi in this adaptation of this story) as opposed to his one scene in the film, where he not only turns out to be one of Les Charmantes himself, but is also a friend of Belle's parents and was named as her godfather when she was born.
• Adaptational Villainy: Monsieur D'Arque is portrayed in this story as a racist, sadistic Mad Scientist who experiments on Le Charmantes in order to "cure" them of their abilities, not even caring if they die, contrasting his original counterpart who was merely the head of the asylum and wasn't shown to be as sadistic.
• Big Bad: Monsieur D'Arque, who has revealed to have been locking up those with magical abilities, including Belle's mother.
• Bittersweet Ending: At the conclusion, Gaston is in prison and Monsieur D'Arque is dead, but the Beast is still trapped in his beast state even if his servants have been restored and Belle's influence helped him retain his mind, though his servants are restored to normal and he and Belle plan to travel the world to find enough "les charmantes" to help reverse the curse even if Rosalind cannot.
• Boomerang Bigot: Monsieur D'Arque is heavily prejudiced against "Les Charmantes", despite being one himself. His resentment for being forcefully relocated to a Les Charmantes-dominant town as a young medical student turned into denouncing all magic as a curse because he wouldn't have to suffer belonging to the ostracized minority if the minority didn't exist.
• Covered with Scars: As a result of years of torture at Monsieur D'Arque's asylum to remove her magic, Rosalind's beautiful blonde hair is prematurely white and her face is heavily scarred.
• Death by Adaptation: Monsieur D'Arque is stabbed to death by Gaston in the story's climax to keep him from killing anyone else.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Gaston may be an Egomaniac Hunter who's trying to get Belle to marry him (like in the original animated film), but even he's horrified that D'Arque is kidnapping and experimenting on innocent people.
• Everyone Has Standards: None of the villagers are happy with what D'Arque has done. Additionally, they're also all mortified by Gaston killing him in front of everyone.
• Fantastic Racism: Monsieur D'Arque has an excessive prejudice against magical creatures, even if their 'talent' consists of nothing more than an ability to make really good cakes.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: D'Arque goes from being a random, friendly (albeit somewhat racist) guy with medical skills to the cruel and sadistic head of the asylum.
• Gratuitous French: French words are dropped every now and then, but much of it is used incorrectly. For example, Lumiere continuously calls Belle, "mon chéri", rather than "ma chérie".
• Heroic Sacrifice: At the conclusion, the Beast sacrifices a chance to return to human form so that his servants can be restored instead.
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: D'Arque is killed when Gaston stabs him in the back with his machete.
• Likes Older Women: Alaric Potts' diary notes that he had this preference, to the point that he wondered if his son (Chip) would end up falling for the daughter of his friend Maurice.
• Mad Scientist: D'Arque has shades of this, as he conducts cruel experiments on people in order to "cure" them of their abilities.
• Missing Mom: Belle's mother Rosalind was missing for much of her life — not by choice, as she was taken by force to Monsieur D'Arque's asylum and submitted to years of torture to make her 'pure'.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Rosalind has one at the end after she realizes that cursing the prince and his servants wasn't the right way to protect her people, especially after she realizes that it affected those she cares about.
• Named by the Adaptation: D'Arque, whose first name is never revealed in the film, is given the first name "Frederic".
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero!: The key divergent moment from canon is when Belle touches the rose before the Beast finds her in the West Wing, which somehow disrupts the spell and literally seals the castle from the wider world, while also giving Belle a vision that reveals that the Enchantress was her mother.
• Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: Monsieur D'Arque. He claims that he's curing Le Charmantes to protect the kingdom, but it's clear he's simply acting out of his own racist prejudice.
• Shipping Torpedo: Lumiere's relationship with the duster, who is never named in this version of the tale, is unofficially over when she expresses prejudice against magical beings that Lumiere does not share.
• Spared by the Adaptation: Gaston ends the story in prison for killing D'Arque and thus does not fall to his death as in the original movie.
• That Man Is Dead: D'Arque, after managing to remove his own powers, proclaims that he's no longer the Le Charmantes he once was.
• We Used to Be Friends: Frederic D'Arque used to be friends with Maurice and Rosalind before he betrayed them and murdered one of their other closest friends.
• What the Hell, Hero?: At two points in the flashback portions of the story, Rosalind calls out the royal family for not caring about what happens to "le charmantes".

• Demoted to Extra: Shan Yu, who plays a major role in the movie, only appears in this book to injure Shang. This is all but explicitly stated to be because he still survives the avalanche, like in the movie, so he's not in the underworld and is likely still making his way to the Emperor.
• Downer Beginning: Reflection starts with the Huns definitely being killed by the avalanche this time, but Shan Yu fatally injured Shang in the process.
• Deliberate Values Dissonance: Just like in the movie, the book doesn't even try to hide the sexist worldview of Ancient China. Not only is it mentioned that women are only expected to marry someone, but Shang also believes that only men should be soldiers. He later changes his mind after he learns the truth about Ping.
• In Spite of a Nail: Shang still finds out that Fa Ping is actually Mulan. He also mentions that he plans to reveal this to the Emperor but the book ends before he goes through with his plan.
• Missing Mom: Averted. Shang mentions that his mother is at home, which is why she isn't seen in the movie.
• Real After All: When Shang recovers, he comes to assume that his experience in Diyu we as just a dream. Ping reveals to him that it was real after all by claiming she had the exact same dream as him and recounts the specific details of it to him.
• Rescued from the Underworld: Reflection is about Mulan and the Li family's guardian, ShiShi, rescuing Shang from the Chinese underworld, Diyu, which King Yama rules.

• Adaptation Expansion: Eric's kingdom, which is unnamed in the movie, is named Tirulia.
• Amnesia Missed a Spot: Despite Ursula's spell wiping Eric's memories of Ariel, he still retains a few vague ones, which is how La Sirenetta was based on them. Ariel herself confirms this when she sees Eric playing on an ocarina the song she sang for him after she rescued him from drowning.
• Downer Beginning: Part of Your World starts with Tirulia having become an empire two years after the events of The Little Mermaid and has been invading neighboring countries while Eric and Vanessa are in charge. We learn shortly afterward that Ursula/Vanessa succeeded in marrying Eric without intervention and Ariel was forced to return home without her voice, acting as the new queen of Atlantica while her father has been presumed killed by Ursula (officially as punishment for her role in Triton's apparent death, but mainly because none of her older sisters can be bothered with the responsibility).
• Eldritch Abomination: Ursula intends to use the powers of the Elder Gods (yes, those Elder Gods), who is said to have come from "seas beyond [the seas of the Old Gods], between the waves, between the stars".
• Fantasy Counterpart Culture: At the beginning of Part of Your World, Tirulia invades a village near the Ibrian Mountains in the kingdom of Alamber. In addition, the village lives near the Veralean Mountains, the village of Garhaggio, and there is a later mention of the village of Arlendad. Judging by these pseudo-Spanish names as well as the Ibrian Mountains likely being a reference to the Iberian system of mountains in Spain, Alamber is likely the equivalent of Spain.
• Handicapped Badass: Ariel has been an effective ruler of the seas for five years despite the obvious handicap of not having a voice.
• I Surrender, Suckers!: In the climax, Ariel surrenders herself to Ursula, suggesting that, rather than the risk of summoning the Elder Gods, what Ursula really wanted was to rule over the Mer as penance for her exile. Ariel offers herself, Triton, the Trident, and the right to rule Atlantica, to Ursula in exchange for the lives of the humans — but while bidding Flounder farewell, Ariel abruptly attacks the surprised Ursula with magic, courtesy of the fountain's sea water, while declaring never to trust the word of a sea witch.
• Jerkass Realization: In addition to Triton accepting that Eric played a key role in his rescue and acknowledging that his past hatred of humans was excessive, Arista apologizes to Ariel for leaving her responsible for the kingdom and volunteers to assist her father after his return so Ariel can pursue her new role as ambassador to the humans.
• Reports of My Death Were Greatly Exaggerated: When Scuttle watches "La Sirenetta", he realizes Triton was never killed but rather turned into a polyp.
• Shout-Out:
  • Ursula uses the dark powers of the Elder Gods through a book she got from Carcosa to unleash death on the Merpeople and the Tirulians.
  • Ariel mentions that her cousin Lara is an athlete and at one point mentally prays to the gods that things work out.
  • A circuex is described as a powerful magic spell. "Circuex" is likely derived from Circe, an enchantress in Greek mythology.
  • The Tirulians have a story about Neptune and Minerva competing over who would be the patron god of Tirulia, and Neptune somehow won by conjuring up a useless font of undrinkable saltwater from the sea. This is taken from the founding myth of Athens, except now with their Roman counterparts and Neptune winning.
• Show Within a Show: A major plot point of the book is La Sirenetta, an opera Eric composed based on his diluted memories.
• Villainous Breakdown: In retaliation for Ariel surrendering falsely, Ursula yells that she will kill everyone, humans and Mer alike, and tries to seize her and Eric in her tentacles while holding Triton in the ampule. Ariel escapes and gives Triton to the humans for safekeeping, but Ursula tries to strangle the trapped Eric, while Flotsam tries to stab the prince. Eric uses his last burst of strength to launch Ursula into the water, bringing himself and Flotsam in with her — and Flotsam accidentally kills Ursula instead of Eric. But even then, Eric is trapped in the water with Ursula, but Ariel saves him, turning back into a mermaid in the process before he drowns.
• Would Hurt a Child: Ursula has Flotsam and Jetsam "fish" for Flounder, and Ariel and Sebastian are horrified at what she may do to Flounder while he's in her clutches.

• Abusive Parent: Ingrid and Katherine's father is hinted to have beaten them as children and is also misogynistic, yelling at them for not doing chores like the women they are when he finds them playing with toys on the floor.
• Adaptational Alternate Ending: Instead of the Evil Queen dying from falling off a cliff as she does in the film, she is imprisoned (still in her hag form) in the dungeon of her former castle and will remain there for the rest of her life. Also, Snow White and her prince don't ride off into their castle in the clouds — instead, Snow White is crowned the new Queen of her kingdom and expresses hope that one day she and Henrich will officially marry.
• Adaptation Expansion:
  • Snow White's parents are named King Georg and Queen Katherine.
  • Snow White's parents ruled over a province and answered to the Holy Roman Emperor.
  • The Evil Queen's name is Queen Ingrid.
  • The Evil Queen is the sister and lady-in-waiting of Snow's mother, thus making her Snow White's aunt as well as her later stepmother.
  • The name of Snow White's prince is Prince Henrich.
  • Henrich's kingdom borders north of Snow White's.
• Adaptation Name Change: The Evil Queen's name is Queen Ingrid, rather than the typically used Queen Grimhilde (which hasn't been used as much recently, except for in A Tale of...).
• Age Lift: Snow White is seventeen during her story, rather than her more well-known age of fourteen.
• Always Someone Better: When Snow reminds Ingrid how she chose to do away with her own sister to protect her mirror, Ingrid, who saw Snow's parents as threats, demands that she not say Katherine's name to her. Snow deliberately disobeys and says Katherine's name repeatedly just to drive her insane. It works, as Ingrid lets out a scream that cracks her mirror.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Snow White is most well known for being a kind and gentle girl, but when she finds out that the Evil Queen not only poisoned her lover but also killed her mother and banished her father, this takes her on a path to remove her evil aunt from power and have her tried for her crimes.
• Cain and Abel: Ingrid is glad that her sister, Katherine, is gone so that she can marry Georg and be the new queen. In fact, Ingrid lethally poisoned her own sister. However, a flashback shows that it wasn't always like this, as Ingrid used to be a good big sister to Katherine and both were subject to their father's abuse.
• The Corruptor: It is all but explicitly stated that the Magic Mirror is the reason the Evil Queen turned to evil, and it even attempts to do the same to Snow White before she manages to destroy it.
• Disappeared Dad: Snow's father disappears after the passing of her mother, Katherine, and his subsequent marriage to Katherine's sister. The Evil Queen spreading false rumors that he went mad leads to the assumption that he ran off. He was actually banished by her, his absence further enforced by a spell that made him feel ill if he tried to return to the kingdom, but he and Snow manage to reunite during the story.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: Snow leads her kingdom in an uprising against the Evil Queen with help from the Dwarves and throws her in jail to have her tried for her crimes.
• Evil-Detecting Baby: One of Ingrid's flashback chapters reveals that when Snow White was a baby, she would cry every time her aunt (reluctantly) held her. Ingrid was convinced from these reactions that the infant could sense the darkness in her soul.
• Glass-Shattering Sound: When she learns that her plans aren't going as she wanted, Ingrid screams so loudly that her precious mirror begins to crack. Snow uses this to her advantage in the climax.
• The Glorious War of Sisterly Rivalry: Between Ingrid and Katherine, whom Ingrid had poisoned.
• Greater-Scope Villain: The Magic Mirror, the source of the Evil Queen's evil.
• How We Got Here: The first chapter begins with Snow discovering Henrich seemingly dead before the rest of the book flashes back to the events leading up to it.
• Ironic Name: The Evil Queen's real name is Ingrid, which means "Ing is beloved/beautiful" when her father had little real interest in being a father to either of his daughters.
• Missing Mom: Snow White's mother fell ill and died. She was actually poisoned.
• Mistaken Identity: Near the end, after suffering a Villainous Breakdown, Ingrid mistakes the young woman before her for Katherine. It's Snow White.
• Mythology Gag: A Tale of... previously used the idea that the Evil Queen's father turned out to be abusive.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain!: If Ingrid hadn't described Henrich as "as good as dead", Snow White wouldn't have figured out that he wasn't actually dead in time to break the curse.
• Only Mostly Dead: Ingrid describes Henrich as "as good as dead". He's actually just under the Sleeping Death.
• Point of Divergence: Strangely, while the book is marketed as "What If? the Evil Queen poisoned the prince?" (which is revealed to eventually happen during the prologue), the actual point of divergence is much earlier, when the prince finds Snow White before the Queen does and helps her reunite with her father.
• Spared by the Adaptation: The Evil Queen is thrown into the palace dungeon at the end of the story instead of falling to her death.
• Strong Family Resemblance: Snow is described as having her mother's face and her father's eyes. Near the end, Ingrid mistakes her for Katherine.
• Switching P.O.V.: The chapters alternate between Snow White's POV and her stepmother's.
• Took a Level in Badass: Snow White; rather than just running away from the palace to hide, she takes steps to rally opposition to her stepmother.
  Ingrid: Katherine?
  Snow White: It's Snow White. You will be tried for your crimes. Guards, take her away.
• Villainous Breakdown: In the climax, as the Evil Queen says that Georg and Katherine threatened her future, which was why she banished them, she learns from one of the castle guards that Snow White's army has invaded the castle, that they can't hold them off, and that she must leave the castle. This freaks out the Queen, whose magic mirror then advises her to remedy her mistake. Snow joins in by accusing her aunt of choosing her magic mirror over the life of Katherine. Ingrid yells at her niece not to say Katherine's name to her. The guard, the mirror, and Snow all talking at once to her causes Ingrid to cover her ears, unable to think. Snow White then deliberately ignores her aunt's warning not to say Katherine's name and says, "Katherine!" over and over again. This causes Ingrid to scream so loudly that it causes the magic mirror, already slowly cracking, to crack further. Her meltdown also serves to weaken her and eventually put her at Snow's mercy.
• Virtue Is Weakness: The Evil Queen's justification for ruling the kingdom differently than Georg and Katherine. Ingrid believed that their kindness and generosity made them weak rulers, which is why she poisoned Katherine and eventually banished Georg.

• Adaptation Expansion: The book introduces Lord Peterssen and explains that he was Elsa's regent before she officially ascended. This is carried over into Frozen II: Dangerous Secrets.
• Adaptational Early Appearance: Olaf was created by Elsa just after the deaths of her parents, serving as an important confidant to her over the next few years.
• Affectionate Nickname: According to the exclusive chapter of the Barnes & Noble edition, Iduna nicknamed her friend Tomally "Molly."
• Alliterative Family: The three hens in Harmon's chicken coop are named Erik, Elin, and Elise.
• Angst Nuke:
  • While the castle staff tell Elsa about her parents' deaths: "She had the sudden feeling she was about to burst into a million pieces, exploding in fragments of light."
  • While Elsa is grieving her parents' loss not long after, she pulls off a real angst nuke when she screams and suddenly blasts ice across the room.
• Audience Shift: While most Twisted Tales are aimed at ages 12 and above, Conceal, Don't Feel is only 8 and above. It is the shortest Twisted Tale with a simple, straightforward writing style compared to others of this series. This makes the book easy to understand for middle-grade readers.
• Bookcase Passage: Agnarr opens one of these to enter a hidden room containing a special lockbox which he gives to Elsa.
• Brought Down to Normal: Due to the curse, Elsa not only loses her ice powers but also forgets she ever had powers in the first place. This way, she grows up as a normal princess.
• Canon Character All Along: Freya, a seamstress from Arendelle who's also the best friend of Anna's parents, is actually a disguised Queen Iduna, periodically checking up on her daughter.
• Chekhov's Gift: Elsa receives a special lockbox from her father, who tells her to seek help from the box if she's ever struggling in her life. Fast forward to three years later, when Olaf finds a painting and letter stashed inside the box's velvet lining. The painting shows Elsa's full family with her lost sister Anna, and the letter is from her mother explaining how the sisters were separated. This helps Elsa discover the truth about her past.
• Evil Chancellor: Hans attempts to set himself up in this role with the aid of the Duke of Weselton. The Duke introduces Hans to Elsa so that the prince could become a confidant for Elsa due to their similar ages. The apparent long-term plan was that Hans would marry Elsa and form a trade agreement that was more beneficial to Weselton than their current arrangement, but this obviously failed as Elsa legitimately never sees Hans as more than a friend, and he is so desperate by the time he finds Anna that he tips his hand as to his true agenda too quickly.
• Flowers of Romance: When trying to court her, Hans brought Elsa bouquets of her favorite flower every week, and the flower helped Elsa cheer up during stressful times.
• From Bad to Worse: Elsa intervenes when Grand Pabbie tries to change Anna's memories, which results in a curse that causes Elsa and Anna to lose their memories of each other, in addition to Elsa forgetting she has powers and that Anna's heart and body would freeze over again if she spends too much time around Elsa. As a result, Agnarr and Iduna are forced to have Anna's godparents raise her instead while they keep an eye on Elsa.
• Happily Adopted: Anna is raised by her godparents, Tomally and Johan. Tomally is an old friend of Iduna and the couple are ordinary bakers.
• Lighter and Softer: Conceal, Don't Feel is heavily toned down and family-friendly compared to other installments in the series. While most Twisted Tale books go all-in on violence, gore, and mature topics, Conceal Don't Feel is an exception to this. Any violence in this book never exceeds that of the original movie. It is also one of the only Twisted Tales with no blood whatsoever.
• Mythology Gag: Some of the words from the songs of the original film appear in either dialogue or Elsa's thoughts.
  • Two of the castle's servants are called Kai and Gerda, the main characters of Frozen's inspiration The Snow Queen.
• No Name Given: Interesting example, works like an inverted Named by the Adaptation. Marshmallow the snow monster is never addressed by name during this story. This is because Olaf named him in the original film, but he is absent from Marshmallow's only scene.
• No-Sell: Hans attempts to court Elsa and Anna, but Elsa never sees him that way and Anna's already into Kristoff by the time Hans learns she even exists.
• Traumatic Superpower Awakening: This is how Elsa regains her powers after they remained dormant for the past ten years. After learning of her parents' deaths, her anguish and grief causes her Emotional Powers to reactivate. According to Grand Pabbie, he foresaw that Elsa's powers would reactivate when the sisters "needed each other more than ever before".
• Un-person: Anna's royal identity is completely erased. No one in the kingdom remembers her existence, and they believe that Elsa is the only princess of Arendelle.
• Wistful Amnesia: Anna and Elsa don't remember each other but miss each other anyway. Anna loves playing in the snow and making snowmen, and her trademark cookies are shaped like a snowman who would look suspiciously like Olaf.
• Worst Aid: During Elsa's flashback when she and Anna baked as kids, Anna accidentally burned her finger on the stovetop. Elsa soothed her sister's burn by freezing a pot of water and dipping Anna's finger in. In reality, you should not treat a burn with ice or cold water. Doing so can damage the burned skin tissue and make the burn even worse.

• An Arm and a Leg: In the final confrontation, Wendy implies that people are telling tales of how Hook will keep losing other limbs to Peter.
• Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: When attempting to interrogate Peter Pan's shadow via torture, Hook tried using “Knives, pincers, hot brands, tacks through the nails, fingernails drawn across slate boards” and having Smee play the concertina while drunk. None of those methods worked.
• Batman Gambit: Wendy's final plan to confront Hook depends on him reacting in a certain way.
• Cute Mute: Tinkerbell, as always, with Wendy having trouble communicating with the fairy without Peter to "translate" as he did in the film.
• Deal with the Devil: With Peter having never come back for his shadow, Wendy makes a deal with Captain Hook to get to Neverland in return for the shadow.
• Exact Words: As in the original films, Hook exploits this; he agrees with Wendy that he will take her to Never Land and back at some future date, but intends to force her to stay on the ship as he never explicitly agreed to take her to the shore of Never Land.
• Green-Eyed Monster: Tinkerbell is forced to overcome her own jealousy when Wendy is the only person available to help rally the forces of Neverland against Hook's pirates after Peter basically disappears.
• Imaginary Friend: Mr. Smee is a figment of Captain Hook's imagination in this version instead of a real person.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Wendy is quite horrified to learn that by making the fateful deal with Hook, she has played a part in the demise of Never Land, to the point where she breaks down crying. Even the text in the book clearly says: "What had she done?"
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero!: The whole situation of this novel arises because Tinkerbell prefers to keep Peter away from the Darling house rather than help him retrieve his shadow, which leads to a bitter Wendy making a deal with Hook and giving him access to Peter's shadow.
• The Smurfette Principle: As it turns out, Skipper, one of the Lost Boys, is actually a girl, but she basically enjoys so many of the Boys' activities that they don't consider her a "girl" in the same sense as Wendy.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: Without any evidence that Neverland is real, John and Michael have grown out of Wendy's old stories, John, in particular, being very cynical about his sister's tales.
• Translator Microbes: Tinkerbell uses pixie dust that allows Wendy to understand what Tink and the other fairies are saying.

• Adaptation Expansion: The opening details Cinderella's conversation with the prince, as well as how her father and mother got married.
• Adaptational Nonsapience: In this story, the mice are just regular mice, and so they can't help Cinderella escape being locked in the way they do in the movie that inspired the book.
• Adaptational Villainy: The Grand Duke, a loyal servant to the King in the animated movie, is here a Treacherous Advisor seeking to overthrow the King and take control of the kingdom for himself.
• Because You Were Nice to Me: Lenore (Cinderella's Fairy Godmother) reveals that this is basically the reason she's Cinderella's godmother; Cinderella's grandmother protected Lenore when magic was originally banned from the kingdom, prompting her to promise to protect Cinderella's mother after she was born, but Lenore fled in fear as the prejudice against magical beings became greater, only checking back into the household after Cinderella's mother was dead.
• Didn't Think This Through: The Grand Duke lampshades this as he muses that it's inevitable that practically every woman he meets will claim ownership of the glass slipper for the chance to marry the prince, cursing the king's impulsive proclamation.
• Drama-Preserving Handicap: Cinderella is forced to break her remaining glass slipper to prevent her stepmother from using it to claim one of her daughters was the mystery girl at the ball, and the Fairy Godmother is limited in how much of her own magic she can use to help Cinderella; as she describes it, she can set Cinderella on a path, but it's up to Cinderella to take proper advantage of those opportunities.
• Eek, a Mouse!!: Cinderella basically uses this to escape the prison the Grand Duke sent her to; she gathers mice in her dress and then throws crumbs on the guard who comes to take her away, leaving him staggering back long enough for Cinderella to escape.
• Fantastic Racism: There's a longstanding prejudice against fairies in the kingdom, which is why the Fairy Godmother kept her magic secret.
• Named by the Adaptation: The Fairy Godmother is named Lenore, The King is named King George, the Prince is named Charles, and the Grand Duke is named Ferdinand of Malloy. The kingdom itself is named Aurelais, while the city is named Valors.
• "Rashomon"-Style: Invoked when Lady Tremaine recalls her first meeting with Cinderella, as she recalls her stepdaughter treating Lady Tremaine like a new present and showing off to her own daughters, where Cinderella thought she was just being polite and didn't expect that Anastasia and Drizella would be as bad at music as they were.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: The prince's aunt and the king's sister, Duchess Genevieve, who learns about Cinderella's status as the 'lost princess' and accepts her as Charles's wife because she recognizes that Cinderella wants to marry Charles for the right reasons.
• Secret Test of Character: Lady Genevieve gives Cinderella one after she confirms that Cinderella is the woman Charles has fallen in love with, Cinderella's reaction to the idea of becoming a princess assuring Genevieve that Cinderella recognizes the responsibilities of being a princess and queen where other girls would just be interested in wearing fine gowns and expensive jewelry.
• Timmy in a Well: When the Grand Duke locks Cinderella in the dungeons, her dog Bruno alerts Genevieve and Cinderella's friend Louise to the fact that she hasn't just left the kingdom.

• 100% Heroism Rating: Mary Ann. Everyone in Wonderland adores her, and even the Queen of Clubs is shocked and saddened upon hearing of her death.
• Babies Ever After: The epilogue mentions that Alice and Katz went on to marry and have children.
• Blue-and-Orange Morality: The Wonderland residents, as usual, but especially the Queen of Hearts. To wit, she's sacking her own land, executing and pillaging anyone she can get her hands on, just in order to gather enough toys so that when the end of time comes, she'll be the winner. What will winning do? Absolutely nothing – she won't get to enjoy her spoils, and she won't remember it after the reset — she'll simply be the winner at the end of that game. Alice finds this latter part absolutely bizarre, but to the other Wonderland residents, it makes perfect sense.
• Camera Fiend: Alice, whilst in England. Most of her days are spent running around and photographing things. This actually proves especially useful when bringing the real culprit behind Mrs. Yao's smashed window to light.
• Clock Tower: Wonderland has one: the Great Clock on the Plain of Time. Being Wonderland, it has a surprisingly friendly face with eyes that move back and forth.
• Does Not Like Spam: Although Alice is deeply fond of sweets, she can't stand licorice. However, she is prepared to force one down if it means she can alter perspective and crush the Card Cutter's skull.
• The Dog Bites Back: The White Rabbit was already tired of the suffering, but it was Mary Ann's death that pushed him over the edge, causing him to deliberately try and end time before the Queen of Hearts was ready.
• Eye Scream: The Queen of Hearts is fond of inflicting this on her enemies for some unknown reason; most notable is the Hatter who had an eye plucked out by Jubjub birds for refusing to give up Mary Ann's location, and Mary Ann, whose sole appearance is wearing a blindfold with blood running down her cheeks.
• Family-Unfriendly Violence: A surprising amount of it, ranging from Mary Ann's bloodied appearance in the photo, the March Hare's fate, Alice getting skewed by a tove and feeling cutting through her sinews and muscles, and later on getting stabbed in the heart and almost dying.
• I Never Said It Was Poison: After Alice is mugged, she's able to figure out the culprit fairly quickly, due to them mentioning the one item that was stolen before she'd had a chance to tell them properly about the theft.
  "I never said it was my camera that had been stolen."
• Interquel: The story is revealed at the end to take place between the end of Alice in Wonderland and the beginning of Through the Looking-Glass.
• Karma Houdini Warranty: The Queen of Hearts' cruel reign finally comes to an end as she is deposed and then thrown into a cage by her former subjects.
• Knight of Cerebus: The Card Cutter. Anytime he's mentioned, the mood turns dark. And when he does finally make an appearance, the encounter ends with Alice being stabbed in the heart.
• Meaningful Name: The White Rabbit's double, Mr. Coney. A “coney” is an old word for “rabbit”. And there's also Katz, and his double, the Cheshire Cat.
• My Instincts Are Showing: During a giant game of Snakes and Ladders, the Dodo has to hood himself with a colander so that he can stomach sliding down a snake. Later on, this is what makes the White Rabbit so tricky to catch, as his instincts cause him to evade any and all attempts at capture.
• Mythology Gag: There are several references to the original Alice's Adventures in Wonderland that inspired the Disney film that provided the basis for this book:
  • There are three references to things connected with the original novel:
    • Kexford, the city Alice lives in, is a thinly veiled reference to the real-life city of Oxford, where it was written.
    • Alice mentions her friend "Charles" and his maths. The author of the original book, Lewis Carroll, a.k.a. Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, was a mathematician.
    • Finally, Cheshire Cat refers to Alice as 'liddel Alice'. The surname of the "real" Alice which the story was written for, was Liddel.
  • At another point, the Hatter quips that Alice once “believed in 6 impossible things before breakfast”, a nod to Through the Looking Looking Glass, the official sequel to the original novel.
• No Periods, Period: Averted. The family housekeeper, Mrs. Anderbee, notes that it's not the right time for Alice's "flowers" when the latter feigns sickness.
• Not Himself: The Mad Hatter, who had the Nonsense knocked out of him. This being Wonderland means that his appearance is affected as well, appearing more in proportion, and somewhat drabber. Worst of all, he's more logical and makes sense, which he hates.
• Perspective Magic: Alice is unable to grow and shrink as she once did, but instead she's able to alter perspective, such as making things smaller or larger or reaching off into the far distance to grab things.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: The Queen of Clubs. She won't immediately get involved with the Queen of Heart's affairs, but if Alice is able to show an egg enough proof that the Heartlanders wish to rise up against their queen, she'll step in to assist. She also takes the time to heal Alice after being attacked by toves, and awards both her and the Dodo a prize for winning Snakes and Ladders.
• Reset Button: What the ‘End of Time' actually entails; it ends the both the game and Wonderland entirely. In their place, a new game/Wonderland begins, and anyone deceased is brought back to life. There also seems to be some small amount of choice as to what someone is the next time around – the Dodo still wants to be a Dodo, but with a different wig, and the Hatter wants to try his hand at being a Cobbler.
• Shout-Out: Alice is told to forget the 'airspeed velocity of an unladen sparrow'.
• Spooky Photographs: The plot is kicked off when Wonderland residents start appearing in developed photographs that Alice takes. Terrified Wonderland residents. Uh-oh...
• The Unfought: The Queen of Hearts. Granted, Alice tries to fight her, but is interrupted by the Gryphon, and the real final challenge ends up being the White Rabbit.

• Adaptation Dye-Job: Persephone had blonde hair in the movie, but is described as having dark hair in the book.
• Ascended Extra: Persephone was a background goddess in the Hercules movie and the animated series, but is a major character here.
• Beta Couple: Hades and Persephone have fallen in love, similar to Meg and Herc.
• Covers Always Lie: Despite being featured heavily on the cover, Hades isn't a prominent figure in the story and appears sparingly.
• Deity of Human Origin: Meg's quest is to become a goddess so she can stay with Hercules on Mount Olympus.
• Disappeared Dad: Meg's father Leonnatos walked out on her when she was five and she hasn't seen him since.
• Friend to All Children: Phil turns out to be this, immediately tending to Meg's ex's infant daughter, and telling Meg that satyrs are naturally proficient at taking care of children.
• I Just Want to Be Special: One of Meg's goals in attaining godhood is to figure out her place and contribution to the world.
• Meaningful Echo: Meg's canon line "I'm a tough girl, I can tie my own sandals and everything" becomes this, with her now repeating the last words her mother said to her.
• Mythology Gag:
  • When in Asphodel Meadows, Meg says her last name is Egan, the same last name as her voice actress in the movie, Susan Egan.
  • Also literally, when Meg is leading her ex's wife out of the Underworld, Hades warns her that she must not look back, or else both of them will be trapped in the Underworld. This is a reference to the tale of Orpheus and Eurydice, in which the former was also instructed not to look back at Eurydice.
• Narnia Time: Meg thought she spent a week in the Underworld after making her initial deal with Hades, but in reality, she was there for two years, which better justifies her former lover moving on.
• Race Against the Clock: Meg is given ten days to complete her quest.
• Rescued from the Underworld: Meg's goddess test is to rescue her ex's current wife from the Underworld within ten days.
• Wacky Parent, Serious Child: While Thea generally worked hard to provide for her daughter, she was also prone to rash impulsiveness which annoyed Meg.
• Unreliable Narrator: As it turns out, Hades manipulated Meg so that she thought her ex quickly got over her and moved on after a week when in reality she was in the Underworld for two years.
• Veteran Instructor: Phil has declared his retirement now that Hercules is a god, only to take it back when he hears that Meg's ex's child is fated to become a famous hero under his tutelage. Phil, who's grown fond of the baby, says he's sure he can delay his retirement a bit longer.

• Adaptation Dye-Job: Due to the story revolving around Rapunzel's mother drinking the flower from the Moondrop Flower instead of the Sundrop Flower had resulted in Rapunzel having silver hair instead of golden bound hair.
• Adaptational Species Change: Pascal is a skink instead of a chameleon. Subverted when Rapunzel uses her hair's magic to transform Pascal into a chameleon.
• Big Damn Heroes: In the final confrontation at Bathory's tower, Gina rallies the thugs of the Snuggly Duckling as an additional fighting force to help Tresburg's soldiers.
• Combo Platter Powers: Rapunzel has several different powers that she cycles through based on the moon's phases. She can kill anyone touching her hair on a new moon, transform animals into different species on a crescent moon, and heal on a full moon. She is also shown with the power to shrink objects or revert them to earlier states.
• Enfante Terrible: As a baby, Rapunzel accidentally killed a maid named Lettie with her magical powers when she tugged her hair too hard while brushing it and Rapunzel cried.
• Everyone Has Standards: The Snuggly Duckling thugs all express disgust at Gothel's plans to auction Rapunzel off to the highest bidder, as holding up carriages and stealing jewels isn't the same as buying and selling people.
• Fanfic: The story is one in-universe, being told by a boy to his sister as his own spin on the film.
• Historical Domain Character: Countess Elizabeth Bathory appears as an antagonist.
• In Spite of a Nail:
  • Rapunzel still ends up locked away in a tower under the watch of Mother Gothel. However, the circumstances are different; instead of being kidnapped for her powers, Gothel is a good wife to the royal family and was given Rapunzel to care for due to her powers making her dangerous to other people and herself.
  • Rapunzel still escapes from the tower because she wants to see the floating lanterns on her birthday, albeit her nineteenth instead of her eighteenth.
• Living Weapon: Gothel was raising Rapunzel to be this so she could sell her.
• Lunacy: Rapunzel gets her hair's magic from the Moondrop Flower, so her powers are closely tied to the moon. Rapunzel needs to focus on the moon for her powers to activate. She receives different Combo Platter Powers depending on the current moon phase. For example, she has the power to kill on a new moon, the power to change animals' species on a crescent moon, the power to heal on a full moon, and so on.
• Mystical White Hair: Due to Arianna ingesting the Moondrop Flower instead of the Sundrop Flower, Rapunzel is born with silvery white hair instead of golden blonde hair.
• Mythology Gag:
  • Instead of the Sundrop Flower, the Moondrop Flower is found, and instead of giving Rapunzel the power to heal, it instead gives her the power to hurt. The concept of a Moondrop counterpart as well as the "Hurt Incantation" (the fan name for the Reverse/Decay Incantation before they were officially named) was introduced in Tangled: The Series.
  • Rapunzel and Flynn are joined by a third companion, Gina, much like Cassandra in the television series. And like Cassandra, Gina wasn't raised by her parents but by someone else.
  • Taking the Moondrop does make your hair a magical glow like in the show, but Rapunzel ends up with silver hair while Cassandra got blue hair.
• Point of Divergence:
  • Because Arianna ingested the Moondrop Flower, Rapunzel instead has magical silver hair that gives her the power to hurt. This also means Gothel still has the Sundrop Flower.
  • Flynn is accompanied by another thief named Gina.
• Power Incontinence: Throughout the book, Rapunzel struggles to suppress her hair's powers to avoid accidentally killing anyone.
• Russian Reversal: In the original film this book is based on, Gothel warns Rapunzel to never leave the tower because the world is a danger to her. In this book, Rapunzel is a danger to the world.
• Self-Insert: It's implied that the boy created Gina as an insert character for his sister.
• Shout-Out: The story is told by a boy to his sick sister in a reference to The Princess Bride.
• Show Within a Show: The framing device takes place in the "real world", with the siblings having watched Tangled and the brother basing his story off of the movie.
• Suspect Is Hatless: Basically the reason Arianna was given the Moondrop Flower rather than the Sundrop; people were only told to look for a "glowing" flower based on available descriptions, so when a glowing silver flower was discovered people just assumed it was the Sundrop Flower and stopped looking for anything else.

• Amnesia Missed a Spot: Although Facilier wiped Naveen's memory of his time with Tiana as a frog, he still feels attracted to her.
• Big Creepy-Crawlies: During a picnic at Congo Square, a swarm of Mosquitoes (almost ten times their normal times) invaded to cause havoc around (also attacking Naveen while he tried to shield Tiana from them). Their unusual size is a result of the Friends on the Other Side being impatient over the fact that the deal hasn't been firmed yet.
• Cruel and Unusual Death: After Tiana managed to trick Facilier with a deal after she let him drink a potion she (and Roselande) created and he let Tiana sign his contract, she wrote "Goodbye Shadow Man" letting Facilier be shocked that the shadows he once called friends were coming to him, and during the process, he felt his face becoming mottled, with red splotches appearing on it, and in need of gasping for air. After that, his last words were "Are... you... ready? Are you... Ready, Tiana?" just before the shadows barged in and dragged him out of the room, presumably back to the Other Side.
• Deal with the Devil: Tiana is manipulated into making a deal with Dr. Facilier to get her restaurant and bring her father back to life, setting the plot into motion.
• Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: While LaBouff has given Naveen a job at his factory, Naveen knows that his role is basically just a token gesture and he's trying to find something to do that lets him feel like he's making a difference, or at least doing something he enjoys that helps others in some way.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: It is stated that Facilier cared about his mother and that her death led to his descent into villainy.
• Fake Wizardry: While trying to convince Tiana to help him, Facilier has to resort to more conventional means of threats, such as burning band instruments before a key performance or claiming responsibility for a thick mist, as he doesn't have the personal power to do anything more explicit to her.
• Gaslighting: Facilier resorts to this while manipulating Tiana, trying to convince her that she signed a contract with him last year when she really just made a verbal deal and Facilier signed it on her behalf.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Facilier only learns with a few days to go that because he signed a contract on Tiana's behalf, his soul is forfeit as payment rather than Tiana's.
• Like Brother and Sister: While explicitly calling them "siblings" might be an exaggeration, even after being friends with Naveen for a year Charlotte freely declares that he's one of her best friends and shows no romantic interest in him.
• Magic Feather: Facilier has enforced this on Tiana; she believes that she needs to add a potion provided by Facilier to every pot of her gumbo she creates to keep her father alive, but in reality, this potion helps Facilier influence others and has nothing to do with her father's continued existence.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Tiana starts to feel this way about making a deal with Facilier, especially after seeing how badly it affected those she cared about.
• Pet the Dog: At one point, towards the end of the story, Facilier gives money to a boy who was standing by the river, and swiftly berates himself for that pointless bit of conscience.
• Put on the Bus: Mama Odie is away visiting her sister.
• Rules Lawyer: Facilier is the victim of this when his "friends on the other side" point out the small print on the contract he drew up to bring Tiana's father back to life; since Facilier signed the contract on Tiana's behalf rather than getting her to sign it herself, technically his own soul is forfeit within a year of the resurrection if he can't get Tiana to sign the contract as well.
• Spanner in the Works: Facilier has been able to trick Tiana into helping him spread his influence by telling her to add some drops of a potion to her gumbo, claiming that it helps keep her father alive when in reality those who eat the potion-tainted gumbo will be susceptible to Facilier's influence. However, this plan fails to help Facilier gain influence over Charlotte's father for the simple reason that LaBouff always orders the etouffee when he eats at Tiana's restaurant rather than the gumbo.
• Walking Wasteland: It is revealed that the apparent corruption in New Orleans is basically because Tiana's father has become this; with Tiana's original deal with Facilier about to expire, the world is objecting to the unnatural nature of his continued presence.

• Adaptation Expansion: The book expands on the existence of fairies in Pinocchio by introducing the entire concept of the Blue Fairy being part of a larger order of wish-granting fairies and of there being a second order of bad fairies that they have to fight against. It also depicts the Wishing Star as a location the good fairies operate out of and shows that there are rules and limits to their magic.
• Adaptational Karma: The Pinocchio villains are all punished by the good Fairies for their wicked deeds, with Stromboli, Honest John, and Gideon being afflicted with terrible nightmares and the Coachman being turned into a donkey.
• Advertised Extra: The tagline on the cover is: "What if the Blue Fairy wasn't supposed to help Pinocchio?" The novel opens on that, but as soon as the prologue is over, the intrigue goes back in time, and more than 80% of the story is about how Chiara became the Blue Fairy and her relation with her sister Ilaria. Pinocchio comes back only by the very last chapters. If it wasn't a Twisted Tale book, with only slight modifications in the prologue and the last chapters, this novel could be a prequel about the 1940 movie's Blue Fairy without any problem.
• Ascended to a Higher Plane of Existence: The Fairies were all born as regular humans, who were chosen, for their empathy and their dedication to help other people, to become magical fairies.
• Company Cross-References :
  • Although she never appears, Cinderella's Godmother is mentioned a few times, being regarded in-universe as the most famous of all Fairies.
  • The opera in Vallan is named the Madrigal Opera. It doubles as Shown Their Work since the name of this Colombian family is a direct reference to a traditional type of Italian music.
• Deal with the Devil: Ilaria makes a deal with the Green Fairy to become famous in exchange for her heart.
• The Dreaded: Monstro. Everyone, Fairies and regular folks alike, perceive him as a major threat. And when he awakes, it is considered as a so catastrophic event that all available fairies immediatly converge to put him back to slumber. The fact the Heartless Fairies awoke him was one of the major reasons that pushed Ilaria to leave them.
• Enfant Terrible: During her fairy training, Chiara encountered Stromboli as a child and it is clear he was unpleasant even back then — he tortured the crickets and monkeys that performed in his father's sideshow and enjoyed watching his elder brother Vito being abused by their father.
• Failed Audition Plot: Ilaria's dream of becoming a famous opera singer is shattered at her audition in Vallan. Not because she arrived dusty from a bumpy wagon ride and sweaty from running late to the audition (although these didn't help matters), but because the residential diva, Maria Linda, and conservatory director, Maestro Lully, thought she didn't have the 'presence' to become a prima donna. This rejection ultimately leads Ilaria to making a deal with the Heartless.
• Fairy Devilmother: The Heartless Fairies. They are like Fairies godmothers, but evil.
• Friend to All Children: Geppetto loves to carve wooden figurines for the children of Pariva, which would later inspire him to become a toymaker.
• Hijacked by Ganon: All of the antagonists from the film are agents of the Heartless and are part of their cabal of spreading suffering.
• Invisible to Normals: The novel explains that the reason nobody bats an eye at Honest John and Gideon being an anthropomorphic fox and cat, respectively, is due to Heartless magic making them appear as ordinary villagers.
• Mana: The justification of why the Fairies don't always intervene, and when they do they generally only gives advice or fix only the part of the problem who only be solved by magic. The Wishing Star is their only known Power Source of magic, and they can cary only a limited quantity of magical energy on Earth with them, which will in add be partially consumed for teleportation, forcing them to chose where and when they intervene, and how intervene by using the least possible amount of magic.
• Named by the Adaptation: The Blue Fairy is given the name Chiara.
• Shown Their Work:
  • The description of the young Gepetto is close to his look in the 1883 original novel (and of course old Gepetto is like the Disney's 1940 Pinocchio)
  • Beside being a reference to the family from Encanto, the Madrigal Opera is named after a traditional type of Italian singing. And not just any one: one of those considered to be at the origin of the appearance of Italian opera (and more specifically of the aria, a piece music where an opera singer sings alone)
• She Is the King: Inverted. "Fairy" is treated as a feminine title, and most of them are women. However, the few male ones also wear the title of "Fairies"
• Was Once a Man: The Blue Fairy and Scarlet Fairy were once human women before becoming fairies.

• A Child Shall Lead Them: Arthur is only fourteen and has to deal with the responsibilities of being king.
• Becoming the Mask: Guinevere was only supposed to pretend to become Arthur's friend as part of her duties as her mother's spy. Mim certainly wasn't counting on them becoming friends for real.
• Canon Foreigner: Downplayed; Guinevere doesn't appear in the movie the book is based on, but she sure does appear in Arthurian legend.
• Cassandra Truth: No one from modern-day Bermuda believes Merlin really is who he says he is, instead believing he's just an old man suffering from heat stroke.
• Company Cross-References: Merlin uses the words "misculus, moosculus, Mickey Mouse!" as part of a magic spell to turn Arthur into a mouse.
• Composite Character: Madam Mim and Morgan le Fay, separate characters in the original novel, are one and the same in this version.
• Crossover: Merlin mentions having crossed paths with the Fairy Godmother from Cinderella (1950) during his attempts to return to his own time.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Ultimately Guinevere confirms that Mim genuinely does care about her by offering to be burnt to death with Arthur, forcing Mim-as-Arthur to show her magic and end her deception.
• Hijacked by Ganon: Arthur pulling the sword out of the stone was engineered by Madam Mim so she could place her own puppet ruler on the throne of England.
• Ignorant of Their Own Ignorance: Mim didn't recognize Arthur as Merlin's student because she only saw him as a bird rather than as a human.
• Named by the Adaptation: Guinevere's birth mother, unnamed in the original legends, is here given the name Camile.
• Related in the Adaptation: Guinevere is Madam Mim's foster daughter in this version.
• Springtime for Hitler: Madam Mim arranged for Arthur to become king in hopes he would be a puppet that she could easily control. She wasn't counting on him actually being good at the job without any help from her.

• Adapted Out: Edna Mode does not appear at all in the story as the Parrs already have their supersuits at the start.
• Adaptational Badass:
  • Violet's powers are far stronger here than they are in the films, to where she can go toe to toe with and survive against Syndrome's deadly Omnidroids, something only her father Mr. Incredible was capable of doing in the film (and something she struggled at against V10 in the first film's climax). During her first mission, Violet is able to steal the Nullifier from Mastermind on her first attempt.
  • Jack-Jack gets this treatment via having all 17 of his powers from the second film, rather than a select few as in the original film and short.
• Adaptational Jerkass: After she catches Violet using her powers illegally to get out of a high school party, Helen grounds Violet indefinitely and threatens to hire a babysitter named Mrs. Caruso who Violet doesn't like to look after the kids while she visits Bob at his work conference, which is really a trap, though she relents and leaves Violet in charge instead.
• Adaptational Villainy:
  • Mirage appears to be far more vile and cruel in this compared to her film counterpart who had a Heel–Face Turn especially when she easily kidnaps the kids, whom she has no problem putting in harm's way by offering Violet a job working as Syndrome's agent. However, like with the original film, Mirage outright despises children getting put in harm's way and saves them as they are leaving the house from a group of hired goons, ultimately pulling a Heel–Face Turn.
  • Violet and Dash also count early on during their training under Syndrome, though she and Dash later break free of their boss's control once they find out that their parents are alive, which completely wrecks Syndrome's plans of taking control of the city.
• Alternate Universe: It's set during Bob's second visit to the island and the jumping-off point is Dash never sneaking off to join his mom on the plane, meaning Violet stays home and without them sneaking aboard the plane ensures it doesn't get shot down like in canon (as it was their commotion onboard that alerted Syndrome to their presence), making it easier for both Syndrome to capture Elastigirl and Mirage to kidnap the kids.
• Badly Battered Babysitter: Played Straight with Kari being this once again, it plays a major role in Syndrome's defeat as it did in the original film as it allows Jack-Jack to activate his powers, turning the tide against Syndrome.
• Big Sister Instinct: Violet is willing to do whatever it takes to protect her brothers by any means necessary especially with her parents' presumed death at the hands of Mastermind and is forced to mature very quickly throughout the story, such as by hiring Kari as a babysitter to watch Jack-Jack, acting as the 'mom' to Dash, and trying to ensure both her younger brothers are safe.
• Bittersweet Ending: Ultimately, things work out for the Parrs after they're reunited at the end, with Violet appreciating her powers after briefly losing them and being on better terms with Helen again, but there's even less of an indication that the Supers will be made legal again, the family is stuck in living in a motel for a while, and the family is likely going to have to deal with Mastermind, even if she isn't as bad as Syndrome.
• Break the Cutie: Violet and Dash after Syndrome tells them that Mr. Incredible and Elastigirl are dead after attending the superhero conference (in reality, he kidnapped them). While Dash gets over his grief fairly quickly due to the nifty gadgets available, Violet wishes she no longer had powers and contemplates using the Nullifier on herself.
• Canon Foreigner:
  • Frozone's extended family finally makes an appearance in the form of a niece named Lucy, who is a popular older student at Violet's school and knows about the Supers and their plight.
  • The most important of the new characters is Mastermind, an old enemy of Bob and Helen's who is the inventor of the Nullifier that can take Superpowers away or give normal people Superpowers.
  • The least relevant is the Parrs' neighbor Mrs. Caruso, who Violet doesn't like and says she smells like licorice. Helen threatens to have her babysit the kids, but she ultimately doesn't play a major role in the story.
• The Cavalry: In the climax, Violet enlists Kari and Lucy to help her infiltrate Syndrome’s base.
• Compressed Adaptation:
  • The story combines the main story of The Incredibles 1 with the events of Jack-Jack Attack and giving Jack-Jack his remaining powers and his love of cookies from Incredibles 2, with Kari taking over as the new babysitter as in the first film and short. Unlike the short, Jack-Jack has all 17 of his powers from the second film right off the bat.
  • Violet's main plot from Incredibles 2 where Tony lost his memory of her is also used as part of the compression, which allows Violet to start fresh with him without the embarrassing party incident to dwell upon.
• Creator Cameo: Brad Bird (writer/director of both films) gets a namedrop as an in-universe director who has a retreat/camp for aspiring actors. Mirage wanting to attend it is a plot point, since she can't afford to go if she quits working for Syndrome.
• A Day in the Limelight: Violet Parr is the lead character, with her brother Dash as a major secondary character, instead of her father and mother, Mr. Incredible and Elastigirl (who were respectfully the protagonist and sidekick in the original film). Bob alongside his wife Helen has been captured by Syndrome on his island, with Syndrome telling the kids (and Mirage) that they were killed by Mastermind in order to sway them to Syndrome's side and steal her Nullifier for him.
• De-power: Mastermind's ultimate weapon, the Nullifier, can strip any Super of their powers. Violet considers using it on herself to get rid of her superpowers forever, while Syndrome plans to use it to nullify the powers of any Super that opposes him.
• Evil Is One Big, Happy Family: Mastermind hosts a party for several unseen villains to celebrate the supposed return of Mr. Incredible, implying that they are all on good terms. She even has photos in her office of herself standing with Bomb Voyage, the Underminer, and Syndrome (which helps tip off Violet that he isn't who he says he is). Downplayed as she's still not Syndrome's ally and he has to steal the Nullifier from her.
• Evil Plan: Syndrome tricks the Parr children into stealing a power nullifier so that he can take away the powers of all Supers, including their parents', and kill them while they’re powerless.
• Face–Heel Turn: Violet and Dash become supervillains while doing Syndrome's dirty work throughout the story, reforming when they realize both how evil he is and that their parents are still alive.
• Fireman's Safety Net: Mirage survived Syndrome throwing her out a window by landing on a beach umbrella.
• Heel–Face Turn:
  • As in the original film, Mirage ultimately turns against her boss once he makes it clear he doesn’t care about her or the Parr kids.
  • Violet and Dash ultimately switch back to being heroes themselves when they realize how evil Syndrome is.
• I Just Want to Be Normal: Violet wishes to have her powers stripped from her in order to live a normal life after her mom grounds her indefinitely for using them.
• I Never Said It Was Poison: Syndrome slips up when referring to the goons that attacked Violet and Dash as "my guys" instead of Mastermind's, cluing her and Mirage in about his plan.
• Jumped at the Call: Violet and Dash jump at the opportunity to be a Superhero while working with Syndrome, who offers them the opportunity to be the Supers their parents forbade them from becoming.
• Karma Houdini:
  • Though she did help the Parrs and Lucius survive by betraying Syndrome, Mirage was ultimately still complicit in kidnapping Violet, Dash, and Jack-Jack for him with a scheme that threatened the world. But because she's now working for the well-connected Mastermind, she's unlikely to ever face any legal punishment for her time in Syndrome's employ, unless the Parrs come into conflict with Mastermind.
  • Same also goes for Mastermind, as she remains unharmed and free to do whatever she pleases in the end, even though her creation of the Nullifier leads to a lot of problems. Judging by how she treats the Parr, she's likely to be on friendly terms with them in terms of villainy, seeing as they were able to recover the Nullifier for her.
• A Lighter Shade of Black: Mastermind is this compared to Syndrome, as best demonstrated from how they both confront Violet when they're at odds. Unlike Syndrome, she wants the Supers back just so she gets the thrills that come with fighting them again and refuses to kill, whereas he wants to destroy them for good and replace them with Badass Normal humans using his technology. This is likely why Mirage goes to work for her in the end instead.
• Manipulative Bastard: Syndrome frames fellow supervillain Mastermind for the Parrs’ kidnapping and supposed death, siccing an enraged Violet and Dash on her.
• Never Found the Body: Syndrome is last seen crashing with his helicopter into the sea after the Omnidroid flings it away.
• Oddball in the Series:
  • This is the first book in the series to be based on a Pixar film instead of one from the Disney Animated Canon, with Fate Be Changed set to be the second.
  • It's also the first book to have multiple different characters narrating, rather than having one main character narrating the story, as aside from Violet (who would be the main narrator of the story). Mirage and even Syndrome get to have a narration of their own, albeit far, far less than Violet.
  • It's also the first to take place in a setting completely devoid of magic, along with being the most contemporary so far.^note The movie has an Ambiguous Time Period but draws heavily from the 1950s and 1960s, but with more 2000s appropriate and even retro-futuristic technology.
• Office Romance: Mirage and Syndrome are dating before the story begins. She finds it weird to date her boss, but puts her personal feelings aside due to his charisma.
• Only in It for the Money: Mirage is only working for Syndrome because he'll pay her enough money so she can get a job as an actress.
• Pet the Dog:
  • Mirage tries to genuinely help Violet and Dash cope with their parents' supposed death alongside training them in use of their powers.
  • Mastermind gives Violet props on stealing her Nullifier on her first attempt and admits she would make a great superhero to have a rivalry with.
• Red Is Heroic: Violet and Dash wear the red supersuits that were given to them by their mom before she leaves for the conference.
• Re-Power: Mirage uses a special serum to give Violet her lost powers back.
• Retired Monster: All of the professional villains became this, as they soon became irrelevant after the Supers were forced to go into hiding by the government. Mastermind in particular despises being retired and is aghast at the notion that she'd kill her old foes, as she desperately wants to fight them again like the old days.
• Shout-Out: One of Syndrome's lairs is underneath a closed-down seafood restaurant that is called Nigel's, which is decorated with pelican imagery.
• Turned Against Their Masters:
  • After finding out that Syndrome is truly evil, lied about their parents being dead, and was holding them captive to finish off himself, Violet and Dash turn against him.
  • Mirage turns against Syndrome once she sees how evil and uncaring he is, tasers him in the neck, and helps Violet regain her powers.
• Voice Changeling: Lucy is a skilled impressionist, which turns out to be a Chekhov's Skill when she poses as Mastermind over the phone. It should be noted that she is explicitly not a Super, so this is just a talent, not a superpower.
• Would Hurt a Child: Much like in the original film, Syndrome has no qualms about subjecting the 14-year-old Violet and her younger 10-year-old brother Dash to a brutal training program in order to test their powers by having them fight against his Omnidroids (most notably V9, the one who manhandled Mr. Incredible in the original film). Syndrome outright says that the droids will kill Violet if she doesn't shape up.
• You Are Grounded!: The plot starts off when, after Violet uses her powers as a party, Helen orders Violet and Dash to stay home as they're grounded. This ultimately causes Bob and Helen to end up supposedly killed by Mastermind, but in reality, they were actually both being kept prisoner by Syndrome.

"Cast Out"

• Adaptational Heroism: The Magic Mirror covertly aids Snow White against the Evil Queen, while the original movie only shows him as a neutral entity.
• Death of Personality: When Snow White shrinks the Magic Mirror so she can take it with her during her escape, the spirit stops appearing in its surface. While the mirror still seems to have enough magic in it to react to Snow White's queries, the spirit as she knew it is effectively dead.
• Stepford Smiler: Snow White actually does mind being made to scrub the floors and labor in the castle, but hides it.

"A First Mission”

• Adaptational Job Change: Mulan accepts a position as an Imperial councilor, the same rank and position as Chi-Fu.
• Jerkass Has a Point: While Chi-Fu is anything but nice about it, he is right that his and Mulan's assignment was to retrieve the silk worms, so you at least understand why he prioritized it, even if he's still quite a jerk for not staying to help the village threatened by mudslides like Mulan and Shang did.
• Pet the Dog: Despite being his usual Jerkass self for most of the story, Chi-Fu ultimately gives Mulan credit in his report as a subdued thanks for her saving his life when the mudslide threatens it.

"Et Voilà"

• Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: Given that the main Point of Divergence is Remy meeting Colette first, it naturally results in Remy bonding more with her than Linguini.
• The Ghost: Anton Ego is mentioned in passing, but doesn't actually appear.
• Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: There's some hinting that Remy's imaginary Gusteau may actually be a bit more real than we thought.
• Redheads Are Ravishing: Linguini's head of red hair is highlighted as a trait that makes him attractive to Colette.
• Setting Update: In contrast with the film's Ambiguous Time Period, the story is set in an unmistakably modern Paris, with mentions of smartphones and social media.
• Who Names Their Kid "Dude"?: Colette thinks she must be mishearing things when she first overhears that the new garbage boy is named Alfredo Linguini.

"The Envelope"

• Canon Foreigner: The story introduces Benoit, a royal footman who bonds with Anastasia after delivering the invitation to Cinderella's wedding and acts as her chaperone on her journey.
• Deceased Parents Are the Best: Lady Tremaine's late husband is revealed to have been a good-hearted man who only wanted his daughters to have fulfilling, happy lives.
• Double-Meaning Title: The title refers to both the invitation to the wedding, but also to the note that Anastasia and Drizella's father left for them to read after his passing.
• Hidden Depths: According to the people in her late husband's village, Lady Tremaine was once a romantic young woman who would sing with her future husband. This understandably shocks Anastasia.
• Mythology Gag: The story being about Anastasia having a Heel–Face Turn in one of the sequels where she was one of the main characters in both films and did do a Heel–Face Turn.
• The Shut-In: Lady Tremaine and Drizella have become this since Cinderella rose up in the world. Anastasia was technically one too, but only because her mother and sister refused to leave the house or go out to do anything with her, but hates it. Thanks to having Benoit as a chaperone, she manages to start on a new path in life after finding employment as a kind old woman's live-in housekeeper in her parents' home village, which is a position she's more than happy to take if it means avoiding wallowing in misery all day like Lady Tremaine and Drizella.

"A New Dawn"

• Adapted Out:
  • Because of the divergent direction his life took, Simba never ended up in the care of Timon and Pumbaa, so they're absent.
  • The hyenas also don't make any appearance in the story, with their role instead being taken by another pride called the Wasaki.
• Authority in Name Only: Simba is technically the king in the name after his father steps down, but Mufasa still steps in to tell the lionesses and Zazu what to do, which upsets Simba. Mufasa decides to let his son truly take charge at the end after realizing that, unlike him, he was right about Scar's true character.
• I Am the Noun: When Scar reveals he was behind the attacks, he claims that he isn't working with Wasaki, but rather is the Wasaki.
• Properly Paranoid: While Mufasa has forgiven Scar, Simba still does not trust him. The latter is proven right when Scar launches an attack on Mufasa and the rest of the pride.
• Spared by the Adaptation: Mufasa survived the stampede, resulting in a new timeline where he accepted Scar's subsequent excuses and relinquished the throne to Simba (in the title if not practice) due to being left physically impaired.
• Tranquil Fury: While Simba tries to remain calm when ordering Scar to leave, it's clear he's absolutely livid.
• What the Hell, Hero?: When Simba learns Mufasa has ordered one of his lionesses to abandon her post behind his back, Simba is quick to call him out when he realizes Mufasa never saw him as a competent ruler.

"Rattle the Stars"

• Adaptational Villainy: Downplayed. Jim sides with the pirates, unlike in Treasure Planet, but still insists that the coup to not be a deadly one and even feels shaken when his enemy Scroop is killed, even though he thought he wanted it to happen. He's still ultimately the same good kid at heart, but he's playing the part of someone more ruthless so he can get a cut.
• Dies Differently in the Adaptation: As part of their deal, Jim coerces Silver into shooting Scroop dead in front of the rest of the crew, in contrast to the Disney Villain Death that Scroop gets in the movie.
• Was It All a Lie?: This is how Jim feels about his relationship with Silver after hearing him tell his pirates he was just getting on his good side. He spends the story wondering if he ever genuinely cared for him while we know he does, all while pretending he himself never cared for Silver as part of his bluff.

"A Royal Game of Chess"

• Adaptation Name Change: The canon Robin Hood is known simply as Red here.
• Composite Character: Maid Marian is secretly Robin Hood.
• Decomposite Character: The fox who animal history remembers as Robin Hood is actually Maid Marian's lover and accomplice, not Robin Hood himself.
• Future Imperfect: The basic conceit of the story is that the tale the animal kingdom tells of Robin Hood is incorrect and is based on the deceptions used to keep Marian's true identity secret.
• Invented Individual: Robin Hood is Maid Marian's persona who she and Lady Kluck fool into thinking is a separate fox.
• Not-So-Harmless Villain: In spite of his shortcomings, Prince John is still nonetheless a lion, and is noted to have what it takes to maul many of his subjects if he wants to.

"The Secret Exchange"

• Clam Trap: After being lured down into the sea by Flotsam and Jetsam, Eric is trapped in a giant mollusk by Ursula. Ariel is able to free him from it.
• In Spite of a Nail: Even though Ariel never makes her deal with Ursula due to already properly meeting Eric, Ursula still comes to menace her.
• Mermanity Ensues: The story ends with King Triton turning Eric into a Merman so that he can be with Ariel.

"Dust to Dust"

• Adaptational Villainy: Subverted. Tinker Bell is Captain Hook's spy, with her only getting close to Peter and the Lost Boys so she can betray them to Hook, despite being genuinely loyal to Peter in the source material. But she ultimately has a change of heart and saves them and the Darlings.
• Becoming the Mask: Tinker Bell grows attached to Peter despite their friendship having started off as a plot by Hook.
• Exact Words: When the elder fairies told Tinker Bell to leave their domain (essentially Pixie Hollow) for disobeying them, she assumed she was flat-out banished. When she goes for them for help saving Peter, the Darlings, and the Lost Boys from Captain Hook and his crew, it turns out they were more-or-less giving her a timeout and were fully expecting her to come back when she was ready.

"Gonna Take You There"

• Adaptational Heroism: While he does ditch him due to not wanting to go back to Maldonia right after getting to New Orleans, Lawrence doesn't betray Naveen to Dr. Facilier (who doesn't even appear), unlike in the movie. He later willingly reunites with Naveen and apologizes, while clearing up the misunderstanding that caused the situation to begin with.
• "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: It turns out at the end that the King of Maldonia was never sick, to begin with and the message summoning Naveen home was actually delivered to him by accident. It was actually for the unseen prince of Spain, as someone had gotten them mixed up since both were foreign princes visiting New Orleans.
• Shipper on Deck: While Lottie did want to charm Naveen herself, she quickly notices his chemistry with Tiana and encourages her to make a move.
• Take This Job and Shove It: Part of the Point of Divergence (aside from Naveen seemingly getting summoned to return to Maldonia) is Tiana quitting her job as a waitress at Duke's Café much earlier after Duke belittles her one too many times.

"Fates, Three"

• Adapted Out: The Crow isn't present when the triplets visit the Witch.
• A Day in the Limelight: The triplets are the main characters of the story, rather than Merida.
• Allohistorical Allusion: One that's actually internal to the Twisted Tale books, along with Production Foreshadowing to boot; The brothers briefly wonder if the Witch could give them a spell that could send them back in time. The Witch's magic sending Merida back in time instead of turning Elinor (or Hubert, Harris, and Hamish) into bears is the core premise of Fate Be Changed.
• Divergent Character Evolution: Due to now being teenagers, the triplets have developed their own unique traits from each other; Hamish has remained the most like their childhood selves and is a prankster and storyteller, Hubert is athletic and wants to fight alongside his clan's warriors like Fergus, and Harris has become a bookish aspiring scholar and is gay.
• Happy Ending Override: There are still some tensions and incidents between the clans that need to be mediated, particularly between MacGuffin and Dingwall. This is presumably because the clan leaders' sons — who all became fast friends and respect Merida — have yet to succeed their fathers.
• History Repeats: Averted. Despite deliberately seeking out the Witch so they can get a spell, the brothers don't get turned into bears (or highland cattle, as Hubert keeps suggesting) like they did as tykes. The Witch instead shows them visions of potential undesired futures in her cauldron, which gets them to rethink what they really want.
• Politically Correct History: Harris has feelings for another young man — Alistair of the MacGuffin clan — and it's not regarded as unusual by his brothers, who are actually supportive of it despite a little teasing.
• Put on a Bus: Merida is stated to be away on a diplomatic mission.

"A Dragon in the Snow"

• Adaptation Name Change: Mim's real given name is Morrigan, but she couldn't pronounce it as a child and this resulted in her saying "Mim" instead, and it stuck. She's fine with it but likes having Merlin call her that when they're kissing.
• Call-Forward: Excalibur is shown in the stone early on and it's mentioned that Uther Pendragon couldn't pull it out.
• Freakiness Shame: Mim's unusual features such as her hair color and pallor are a sore spot for her.
• I Was Quite a Looker: Turns out that Merlin and Mim were fairly attractive when they were young adults, at least enough for them to find each other attractive; Merlin was tall and lean young man with long black hair with a white stripe who Mim clearly liked to look at despite finding him frustrating and annoying, while Merlin found Mim to be unique looking Unkempt Beauty who could only hide it so well.
• Start of Darkness: The story acts as an origin for Madam Mim, expanding greatly on her backstory, history with Merlin, and why she has it out for the Pendragons and Camelot.
• Then Let Me Be Evil: After realizing that she was never going to get the opportunity she was training for, Mim decides to stop trying to be accepted and embrace being a dark witch.
• Wizarding School: The Lyceum trains the magical population of Brytannia, including Merlin and Mim. The main purpose is to produce an apprentice for the king's royal mage.

"The Journey Home"

• Adaptational Mundanity: While the Beast and his servants presumably still exist, they are never encountered at all, leaving the story devoid of anything fantastical.
• Adaptational Wealth: Belle and Maurice become successful businesspeople as a result of his machine winning first prize at the fair in Annecy. She even gets to buy her beloved bookshop and make it a thriving business in their village.
• An Offer You Can't Refuse: Gaston will only agree to help Belle get Maurice's cart unstuck from a ditch if she has dinner with him. This motivates her to solve the problem herself.
• Awful Wedded Life: Gaston is said at the end to have gotten married to a widowed noblewoman. Good for him? No, because he's apparently stuck waiting on her hand and foot like a servant.
• Pet the Dog: LeFou is genuinely impressed when Belle finds a way to free the cart from the ditch herself, despite being dismissive of her beforehand.
• Took a Level in Kindness: The people of the town have come to accept and appreciate Belle and Maurice, embracing the books she recommends to them and the comforts brought by Maurice's log-chopping invention.

"Call It A Hunch"

• Adaptational Alternate Ending: Instead of letting him sacrifice godhood so he can be with Meg, Zeus insists that Hercules live as a god.
• Adaptational Job Change: Hercules serves as the God of Heroes on Olympus, while Meg essentially becomes a detective helping other mortals with issues involving the gods.
• Ascended Extra: Athena is relevant in the story, whereas she is merely a voiceless incidental in the movie.
• Jerkass Gods: Hermes puts the entire population of Thebes at risk by stealing Athena's statues throughout the city just because he wants to prank her. To a lesser extent, Athena is quick to subtly threaten Meg if she fails to find Thebes' statues of her.
• Series Continuity Error: Meg is able to spend time with Hercules, Zeus, and Hera on Olympus, even though she shouldn't be able to because she's mortal. There may be a loophole of some kind though.

"The Reluctant Prince"

• Babies Ever After: Well, almost. Faline is pregnant with two fawns, and Flower and Thumper's mates are also expecting.
• Calling the Old Man Out: Bambi does this to the Prince, though the elder stag is more amused by it than anything else.
• Paper Tiger: Ronno only seems like he could make for a stronger prince than Bambi, who still bests him when the two clash yet again.
• Reluctant Ruler: Bambi doesn't like the idea of taking over for his father as the Great Prince of the Forest, until realizing he can be a different kind of protector than him.

"The Rose and the Thorns"

• Acceptable Breaks from Canon: The sleeping spell with the cursed spinning wheels works on everyone instead of just its intended target of Aurora, such as Philip and even Maleficent.
• Adaptational Badass: For her protection, Aurora has been trained in fencing and archery, and also knows a couple of protective spells. This ultimately helps in her confrontation with Maleficent.
• Adaptation Relationship Overhaul:
  • Due to Aurora having never been hidden from her true identity, she and Philip meet each other much sooner and consider each other best friends before they admit that they're in love.
  • Additionally, Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather don't raise Aurora as "Briar Rose" as her supposed aunties, so they're instead her teacher (though she still cares for them, particularly Merryweather).
• Crush Blush: Aurora blushes just thinking of Philip, and goes bright red when he brings up the idea of waking her from the curse.
• Disappointed by the Motive: Aurora is far from impressed that she was supposedly only cursed because Maleficent wasn't invited to her christening. This is partly because she had her entire life to think of possible motives (such as Maleficent having been her father's jilted former love). In actuality though, even Maleficent thinks it's not a good enough reason, and she reveals she was mostly trying to kill Aurora because she believes her to be the light meant to counter her darkness due to her name.
• Hoist by Her Own Petard: In the end, Maleficent is done in by her own sleeping spell while in dragon form, and left to sleep and die under a beautiful field of flowers and trees grown by Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather.
• Shipper on Deck: Even if it's with strings attached, Merryweather is happy to allow Aurora to sneak off to have a romantic rendezvous with Philip.
• Swapped Roles: Philip is put to sleep by a cursed spinning wheel and Aurora — who never succumbs to the curse — is the one who wakes him up with the kiss of true love. Aurora points out the irony in this, given that Philip had already suggested he could wake her up.

• Adaptation Expansion:
  • The book heavily expands on the backstory of Merida's parents by revealing how they met (or rather, how they were supposed to meet before the time travel) and what life was like before Merida was ever born. In particular, it shows much of what Elinor's life was like, with her being the princess of the Clan MacCameron, whose kingdom reigned before Fergus united Clan MacGuffin, Clan Macintosh, and Clan Dingwall under DunBroch.
  • To a lesser extent, it also depicts the Witch's past as well, with her being the daughter of a woodcarver who lived in a village under the rule of Elinor's father's clan.
• Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: Due to Merida meeting and bonding with the witch when she was a young woman in the past, the two end up being proper friends who are much more affectionate and familiar with one another, with them now being on a First-Name Basis and the witch being far more forthcoming about her spells.
• Ambiguous Situation: While the implications are certainly there, it's never made explicit whether Lachlan and Aileen were secret lovers or not. Her and her brother Gregory's motives are for helping Lachlan with his coup attempt (aside from Aileen's clear resentment of Elinor and whoever she's close to) also don't get fully spelled out, as they, Lachlan, and their accomplices are captured by the guards "off-screen" after their plot is exposed and aren't seen afterward.
• Atrocious Alias: When Merida first encounters the young Fergus, she awkwardly starts to say she is of the DunBroch clan but catches herself and instead says she's from a clan called "Dungaroo", which is utter gobbledygook. She questions how she came up with it in her own head. Later, Fergus makes it clear that he never bought it.
• Bitch Alert: Aileen is introduced in a way that makes it clear that she's going to be anything but nice, polite, and unbiased, and she only gets worse with every scene she's in. It turns out to be a mild form of Obviously Evil, as she turns out to be one of the book's villains.
• Cerebus Retcon: It turns out that the Viking invasion that Fergus and the other clan leaders fondly reminisced about in the original movie was also what resulted in the death of Elinor's father, King Douglass, who was slain by the Vikings and led to the MacCameron clan to retreat to their original homeland, which left a void that allowed Fergus to make DunBroch a powerful kingdom. At least until Merida's alterations to history result in him having survived and the kingdom simply diminished in favor of DunBroch, though we don't learn the exact details as to how the Viking invasion played out.
• Close-Enough Timeline: The story concludes with Merida returning to a time very similar to her own, except now her maternal grandparents are alive and Clan MacCameron still exists in a reduced capacity, the DunBroch Kingdom now has more tribes under its banner, girls can compete in the Highland games and Elinor and Fergus are much more easily convinced to not have their daughter get married yet.
• Demoted to Extra:
  • The triplets only appear in the prologue and in one of the final chapters, which is a natural result of them obviously not existing in the past Merida travels to.
  • While the Macintosh, Dingwall, and MacGuffin clans are acknowledged, none of the chiefs or their sons get speaking roles. Moreover, none of the future chiefs are seen in the past and their respective clans only get the rare occasional mention compared to the many other book original clans who get named throughout the story, with no named character hailing from any of them.
• Evil Former Friend: Aileen is a member of the Castle MacCameron staff who once played with Elinor when they were very young, but has since grown to be a cold and resentful young woman who helps orchestrate an assassination attempt on Elinor's father King Douglass as part of an attempted coup meant to put Lachlan Fraser on the throne.
• The Ghost: Mor'du is mentioned many times throughout the book as a possible threat, but he ultimately doesn't factor into the story and could still be a threat in the future, as there's nothing to suggest that he isn't still roaming Scotland somewhere in the new, altered timeline.
• In Spite of a Nail: While the twist of the book is that the Witch gave Merida a different spell that sends whoever eats the cake back in time, it still transforms them — in this case Merida — into a bear afterward, albeit much more slowly.
• Like Mother, Like Daughter: As it turns out, Elinor was also a Rebellious Princess who wanted nothing more than to escape her parents' rules and not marry who she was obligated to. In this case, though, Princess Elinor's parents were much more strict, colder, and much less forgiving than she would ever go on to be with Merida.
• Named by the Adaptation: The woman who Merida recognizes as the younger version of the witch is named Freya.
• "Near and Dear" Baby Naming: After getting back to her own time, Merida is stated by Elinor and Fergus to be named after Merida herself, with them happily unaware that she is that same Merida. This isn't a Stable Time Loop thing though, as they already decided on the name without such an inspiration before Merida ever altered history.
• Oddball in the Series:
  • This is only the second book to be based on a Pixar movie, with Suddenly Super being the first. Time will tell if any more Pixar movies will get books in the series.
  • It is first Pixar story to focus on a Princess^note  and the 6th overall in the series, which also applies to the original movie.
  • This is the first story to have Time Travel be the main focus point.
• People of Hair Color: Downplayed. While Clan DunBroch aren't the only clan to be known for possessing wild red hair, having it is seen as a dead giveaway that someone is one of them and all it takes to be vocally abused and turned away by businesses in the village on MacCameron land that Merida finds herself in. To hide that she is of DunBroch, Princess Elinor has Merida (who revealed this fact about herself before realizing who Elinor was or what was going on) cover her hair so no one in her family's castle can see it and jump to the conclusion that she's from DunBroch. It does indeed prove to be the smoking gun Aileen needs to get her kicked out of the MacCameron castle.
• Series Continuity Error: Possibly. In canon, one of the few things we know for sure about the Witch is that she was the one who gave the prince who became Mor'du the spell that turned him into a bear. But here, Freya, the younger version of her, is still honing her craft when Elinor and Fergus were young and is too young to have been alive when Mor'du came to be. However, given that she's shown to have time travel magic at her disposal, it can be reasoned that she could've traveled back in time and given the prince his spell like in his canon backstory. Ultimately though, Mor'du's lack of importance in this story means this isn't addressed.
• Shout-Out: Early plot details reveal that Merida will be the one to eat the pastry in this rather than her mom Eleanor, with the pastry sending Merida back in time (instead of turning her into a bear as it did with her mom), in which she meets her parents as teenagers (whose clans are actually arch-rivals in the past and both accuse Merida of being a spy for the other) and accidentally interrupts their romance that threatens to erase Merida and her clan from existence, a plot literally straight out of Back to the Future (1985) (though with a pastry instead of a car, but unlike the film, there's no hint if Merida will make it back to her own time).

• Achilles in His Tent: Robin and his Merry Men are in hiding in the forest as they don't believe they can do anything against John's army and taxes beyond keep themselves safe from execution, although part of this is due to Robin's self-imposed guilt over his failure to protect Richard.
• Adaptational Villainy: In the original film, Sir Hiss was just Prince John's buffoonish sidekick, but here he is essentially the power behind the throne, manipulating John into passing increasing higher taxes and even convincing him to try and kill Richard (although John had enough self-control to just fake Richard's death instead).
• Coincidental Accidental Disguise: When Marian makes her first attempt to give gold to the poor of Nottingham, she's mistaken for Robin Hood because people saw a fox wearing a cloak with the family coat of arms on it on a dark night and assumed she was Robin.
• Death by Adaptation: While King Richard was alive and well in the original movie (being out on a crusade for the majority of it), he's apparently dead by the time Maid Marian returns to Nottingham. Subverted when it's revealed he's alive and being held prisoner.
• Death Faked for You: Richard was drugged and his death faked so he could be put into a dungeon under the castle.
• Loophole Abuse: When Prince John declares that the winner of the upcoming archery context will earn Marian's hand in marriage as an attempt to lure out Robin Hood, Marian enters herself in disguise and wins, prompting the lord to give her the golden arrow to note that he can't give her the second prize as she was the second prize.
• My Greatest Failure: Robin has been in hiding since he returned from the Crusades because he blames himself for Richard's death, as he was on guard in Richard's room and apparently fell asleep, but Marian is able to determine that he and Richard were drugged and Richard's death faked.
• Token Good Teammate: Joffery, one of the palace's current rhino guards, is shown to be sympathetic to Marian's thoughts on the kingdom's present circumstances. He later reveals that he was part of the group of soldiers who accompanied King Richard back from the Crusades, and when the Sheriff tries to lead a group to capture Robin and his Merry Men, Joffery helps support the idea that Sherwood Forest is haunted to convince the soldiers to flee in the face of the outlaws' traps and tricks.

• Adaptational Nice Guy: In their brief appearance, Lock, Shock, and Barrel aren't shown committing any crimes for Oogie Boogie and they instead enthusiastically welcome Sootfang to Halloween Town and insist on showing him around.
• Adapted Out: Oogie Boogie, since Sally is the one to discover Christmas Town, meaning Santa never gets kidnapped.
• All Crimes Are Equal: In Christmas Town, under the rule of Mr. Jingles, doing anything even slightly naughty, whether it be throwing a snowball at someone or forgetting to return someone’s cookie cutters, is enough to get you arrested and hauled off to Sootfang’s lair.
• All of the Other Reindeer: Sootfang is a scary monster who never felt welcome in Christmas Town due to his appearance and different tastes, which led to him being left out of most activities and eventually driven from Christmas Town to the old coal mine that Mr. Jingles converted into a prison for the "naughty". The term "reindeer games" is even used, which certainly drives the point home.
• Birds of a Feather: After he's shown that Abigail's porcelain leg is cracked and that it was due to an undeserved punishment for the noble action of helping Sally, Santa decides to help her. In the epilogue chapter, we learn that he arranged for her to be given a metal brace to keep it together. When she's delivered as a Christmas present, we see that he has specifically gifted her to a little girl who is delighted to have a doll like that since she not only has similar features to her but because she has braces on her own legs and walks with crutches.
• Bizarre Taste in Food: Played with. The people of Halloween Town like Sally and Jack are accustomed to food that most human beings would consider revolting or inedible, like live maggots and moldy coffee. But because they also eat normal candy that one would hand out on Halloween, they find sweet things like hot chocolate and sugared plums to be quite enjoyable once they learn of them and taste them. The two also eat canned hash with no complaint.
• Canon Foreigner: Out of necessity, every named inhabitant of Christmas Town other than Santa counts as this, with notable examples being Mr. Jingles, the fashion doll Abigail and Tammy, and the coal monster prison guard Sootfang.
• Crapsaccharine World: Sally quickly finds that there's a hidden unseemly side to Christmas Town, namely that its citizens have no choice but to be cheery and nice all the time so they don't get taken away by Mr. Jingles and put in a coal mine-turned-prison guarded by Sootfang.
• Demoted to Extra: Other than Sally, Jack, and Zero, the residents of Halloween Town are largely pushed to the periphery and only get a few in-person lines, if any.
• Evil Chancellor: While he's technically Christmas Town's chief justice, Mr. Jingles otherwise fits this trope to a T.
• Felony Misdemeanor: Anything that isn't considered "nice" is considered a crime by Christmas Town's authorities, regardless of one's intent. This includes Sally scaring townsfolk by removing her head, a boy hitting her with a snowball (even though she didn't mind it), and businesspeople not giving customers treats "on the house" if they don't have money to pay with.
• Gray-and-Gray Morality: When Santa Claus learns the extent of what Mr. Jingles has been doing, he rebukes the tall elf's extreme black and white worldview by saying that no one is completely nice or completely naughty, including himself since even he swipes Mrs. Claus' extra cookies at night.
• In Spite of a Nail: Jack still ends up dressing like Santa as a disguise, but here it isn't to pose as Santa to the human world, but instead so he can more easily traverse around Christmas Town with an also disguised Sally.
• Living Toys: Alongside elves, a significant portion of Christmas Town's population are living toys, including dolls who are more conventional than Sally, tin soldiers who act as policemen, and even a laser-shooting robot. Interestingly, they seem to be the size of people by default. Given that it's revealed that select toys can compete to be delivered to a kid by Santa Claus, they presumably become normal toys as part of the process, but the epilogue reveals shows Abigail maintaining her sentience and intending to keep contact with Sally after becoming a gift, so it appears to be a Toy Story situation.
• Oddball in the Series:
  • This is the first book to be based on a film not made by Walt Disney Animation Studios or Pixar, and the first based on a movie that was produced by Touchstone Pictures.
  • Due to being named after a song with Sally's name in it, this is the first book to have the main character's name in the title.
  • It's also the only one to be based on a Stop Motion film.
• Only One Female Mold: In-Universe, the fashion dolls like Abigail are completely identical in appearance, being differentiated mainly by the colors of their hair and dresses. As such, Abigail thinks her leg being cracked means she has no hope.
• Rock Monster: Sootfang is one of these, except made of coal and, to a lesser extent, crystal.

• Alpha Bitch: Ola, one of the pride's cubs, bullies Nala for being a subpar huntress compared to herself and her friends. Fittingly, her name means "wealth".
• Armour Piercing Response: Sarafina gives one to Sarabi during their talk, which shocks not just Sarabi but also the other lionesses.

• Girl Posse: The first true instance in this franchise, led by Ola.
• Heinous Hyena: Scar's minions and a scourge on the pride that is making food harder to find because the hyenas keep going after the lions' kills.
• It's All About Me: During his time as king Scar resents how the rest of the pride don't show him any real respect, thinking that just being king should entitle him to their reverence and never properly acknowledging that he has to make himself someone worth respecting to get it.
• Meaningful Name: Ola, as well as her two flunkies, Bontu ("proud") and Kahina ("universe").
• My Beloved Smother: Nala's mother Sarafina makes her life in Pride Rock a lot harder by reacting badly to her and Simba's adventure in the Elephant Graveyard, keeping her close to her at all times which results in Nala not knowing how to hunt beyond pouncing and leading her to be bullied by other cubs. This even happens when the younger lionesses are supposed to prove their worth on a hunt, where other lionesses are watching closely to make sure everyone's safe, leading to Nala being dragged home in the middle of the competition and causing Nala's team to lose. Sarabi attempts to tell Sarafina how negatively this is affecting Nala, but Sarafina refuses to hear it until Nala runs away to search for Simba.
• Never My Fault: Scar blames the lionesses for not hunting hard enough when the real problem is that his "alliance" with the hyenas means that the hyenas are stealing most of the food for themselves.
• Pragmatic Villainy: Scar decides to go and rescue Nala by himself to try and convince the lionesses that he's a better king than he's been presenting himself as so far, and convinces Nala that he will accompany her to investigate the rumour of Simba's survival so that he can sort it out himself as opposed to his usual preference for lounging around.
• Skewed Priorities: Scar sees the other lionesses running around because Nala and another cub have gone missing, and his first thought, rather than going to see what the problem is, is to think that they're getting ready to overthrow him.
• Token Good Teammate: Only two of the female cubs don't tease Nala. Ola's younger sister Abena and Puleng. There's also Lindiwe's brother Kamari.
• Wants a Prize for Basic Decency: Invoked; when Simba returns to Pride Rock, Shenzi reveals that she and the other hyenas were ordered to kill Simba outright, so she feels that they deserve leniency for letting him live. Sarabi notes this and the fact that this evidence makes it easier for her to banish Scar in absentia, so silently acknowledges that this is why she won't kill the hyenas anyway, but makes it clear to Shenzi that the hyenas are to leave Pride Rock for good and never return.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Sarabi gives a big one to Sarafina, calling her out for not allowing Nala to participate in the hunting games and being overprotective of her.
• Worthy Opponent: Invoked regarding Scar's view on Rafiki; while Scar doesn't like the mandrill, once he has heard that Rafiki had a vision that Simba is alive he has enough awareness of Rafiki's insight to know that he should take this vision seriously and check it out for himself.
• Young and in Charge: Once Simba has returned to Pride Rock, Sarabi and the other lionesses proclaim him the new king even though he isn't full-grown yet.
• Zerg Rush: A heroic, non-fatal version of this is used when Scar's attempt to kill Simba is interrupted by Nala, Zazu, Timon and Pumbaa; with the lions still cubs, none of these five would have a chance against Scar solo, but by attacking him all at once they do enough damage that Scar is unable to pursue them once they decide to retreat.

• Adaptational Relationship Overhaul:
  • Rather than first meeting as adults alongside their dogs, Anita and Roger first meet when she becomes the new kid in a high school he already attends and becomes his academic rival.
  • Roger already knows Stella/Cruella before Anita does because they're classmates before Anita starts attending, rather than him only meeting her through Anita after they get married.
• Adaptation Name Change:
  • "Cruella" is actually named Stella, but was given the former as a nickname by Roger.
  • As with the movie, neither Anita nor Roger have the surname "Dearly" from Dodie Smith's original novel.
  • Roger's actual first name is Cornelius here, though he still primarily goes by Roger.
• Bittersweet Ending: Leaning towards bitter for Stella. The Weatherby Diamond is recovered, saving Anita’s family from poverty, and the belief that one of the dogs simply ate it clears Roger’s father of all suspicion and releases him from prison. However, Stella must now live with the fact that her father is a selfish, cold-hearted thief who gets off scot-free by “downsizing” and moving to Hell Hall. Worst yet, Stella vows to let no one, man or beast, get close enough to hurt her like that again, leading her to begin acting colder towards Anita and straining their friendship and setting her on the path to becoming Cruella De Vil.
• Company Cross-References: Being set in 1953, the The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men is referenced as a relatively recently released major motion picture.
• Everyone Went to School Together: Roger is depicted as a classmate of Anita and Stella, when the movie showed him first meeting Anita when they were both firmly adults and only knowing Cruella through Anita because of their school connection.
• High School AU: Despite the "Twist" on the cover being given as being about Anita and Cruella being best friends, the actual, more major divergences regarding how the human characters know each other from the movie functionally make the "Twist" instead be "What if Roger went to school with Anita and Cruella" more than anything. That said, it's still set in 1953, when their film counterparts would've been that young.
• Human-Focused Adaptation: The book is firmly focused on the main human cast of 101 Dalmatians, rather than the dogs.
• Named by the Adaptation: Anita's maiden name has never given in Disney canon ^note Aside from ''Cruella naming her Anita Darling, but because it's necessary due to this being set before she marries Roger, here it's Weatherby.

• Always Someone Better: Moana initially has this impression of Noe, negatively comparing herself to her and wondering why the ocean didn't pick her to fix everything. This stops completely after she learns of Noe's more extreme actions and that she lied to her about her true nature.
• Bad Future: The realm of darkness shows one of these for Motonui, where Chief Tui burned all the canoes and built a wall around the island to keep out the blight.
• Big Creepy-Crawlies: Kanapi takes the form of a gigantic centipede. Though he's more than an oversized animal, being a fully sentient being capable of expressions and human speech.
• Big Damn Heroes: After being silent all book, the ocean shows up to kick Kanapi’s ass in the realm of darkness.
• "Burly Detective" Syndrome: Noe is constantly referred to as ‘the ashen girl’.
• Creepy Centipedes: Kanapi is a giant soul-eating centipede demon.
• Dark Is Not Evil: The realm of monsters has some nicer inhabitants this time.
• Dead All Along: Noe is actually a spirit, with her body being deceased.
• Death by Adaptation: Maui is killed by Te Ka early on in the story. However, when the restored Te Fiti undoes the blight she created as Te Kā, Maui is restored to his usual self. It's pointed out that it would take more than the blight to kill a demigod for good.
• Fetch Quest: Moana and Noe need the Tears of Te Fiti to restore the Heart of Te Fiti, and have to go to various locations to find them.
• A God Am I: Noe wants to usurp the power of Te Fiti and become a demigod.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Noe sacrifices herself to help repair the Heart of Te Fiti.
• Kraken and Leviathan: One of the monsters in Lalotai is the fe’e, a massive octopus monster.
• Late to the Tragedy: Te Fiti’s blight reached Noe’s island while she was dreamwalking, which means she’s stuck in spirit form because her actual body is rotted away.
• MacGuffin: The Tears of Te Fiti, magical objects created by Te Fiti that radiate life and bring good fortune to those who hold them. Moana and Noe need them to restore the broken Heart.
• Named by the Adaptation: Tui's deceased best friend who appear in the realm of darkness as a spirit is given the name Āfa.
• Non-Human Non-Binary: Kala, a shapeshifting lizard monster, is referred to with they/them pronouns. Averted with all the other named monsters.
• Puppeteer Parasite: The Big Bad can take control of someone’s spirit.
• Reptiles Are Abhorrent: Kala is a shapeshifting lizard monster. Subverted when they’re actually very helpful; They sheds the light on the truth about Noe, helps Moana escape the realm of darkness and get back to Te Kā's atoll and fend off the fe'e. While hesitant to admit it, they become Moana's friend.
• Shoo Out the Clowns: The only acknowledgement of Heihei is right near the end when the restored Maui says he somehow survived the disastrous encounter with Te Kā at the beginning of the book.
• Shout-Out: Probably not intentional, but Kala loves calling Moana a foolish mortal.
• Taken for Granite: Maui is reduced to a statue of volcanic rock at the start of the book. Moana is plagued similarly throughout the book, with it more slowly spreading up her arm to her neck and face.
• Undeathly Pallor: Why Noe is called ‘the ashen girl’.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: Even when at her most extreme and antagonistic, Noe's goal is to end the blight and restore all it destroyed.
• What Measure Is a Non-Human?: After meeting sentient monsters other than Tamatoa, Moana comes to see them as people and sympathize with them enough to want to ensure they won't suffer from the blight like humans do.

• Adaptation Expansion: This story partially delves into the lives of Lilo and Nani—moreso the latter—before the events of the original film. It even provides a possible explanation of how the Pelekai sisters' parents died on their fateful drive in the rain; their car got swept off the road in a flash flood.

• The Ghost: Charles F. Muntz is mentioned several times but never actually appears in person.
• Historical Domain Character: Eva Peron.