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Nettle & Bone

 Nettle & Bone
type
TVTItem
 Nettle & Bone
label
Nettle & Bone
 Nettle & Bone
page
NettleAndBone
 Nettle & Bone
comment
Nettle & Bone is T. Kingfisher's 2023 Hugo-winning novel.Marra is a princess, the youngest of three in a tiny kingdom squeezed between two much larger, more powerful kingdoms. When she is a child, her eldest sister is sent to the Northern Kingdom as a bride for the prince, but dies mysteriously some months later. Her elder sister is sent as the prince's new bride, and it's only when Marra attends the birth of her niece that she realizes how bad her sister's abusive marriage is, and how little anyone can do about it.But Marra has been in a convent since she was a teen, living and working with the nuns and the wider community, and she's now a grounded, practical, sensible woman of thirty. If there's no political solution, she reasons, maybe there's a magical solution. If so, she'll need the help of a dust-wife: a graveyard guardian witch.
 Nettle & Bone
fetched
2023-12-03T04:14:43Z
 Nettle & Bone
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2023-12-03T04:14:44Z
 Nettle & Bone
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DBTropes
 Nettle & Bone / int_1350733b
type
Fantastic Light Source
 Nettle & Bone / int_1350733b
comment
Fantastic Light Source: The dust-wife keeps some moonlight in a vial for a pure clean light.
 Nettle & Bone / int_1350733b
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Nettle & Bone / int_1350733b
 Nettle & Bone / int_1b8c7503
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The Exile
 Nettle & Bone / int_1b8c7503
comment
The Exile: Fenris is exiled from his homeland. If he returns, it will start a clan war.
 Nettle & Bone / int_1b8c7503
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Nettle & Bone / int_1b8c7503
 Nettle & Bone / int_225d8ff9
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Ambiguously Human
 Nettle & Bone / int_225d8ff9
comment
Ambiguously Human: According to the dust-wife, her parents were human, anyway.
 Nettle & Bone / int_225d8ff9
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Nettle & Bone / int_225d8ff9
 Nettle & Bone / int_39994bd9
type
Bazaar of the Bizarre
 Nettle & Bone / int_39994bd9
comment
Bazaar of the Bizarre: The Goblin Market is reached by invoking it at a liminal space, is staffed by The Fair Folk, deals in all kinds of magical and mundane sundries, and trades for anything from years of lifespan to teeth. Marra makes several handy purchases with the dust-wife's guidance.
 Nettle & Bone / int_39994bd9
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Nettle & Bone / int_39994bd9
 Nettle & Bone / int_39b8d3d6
type
Boring, but Practical
 Nettle & Bone / int_39b8d3d6
comment
Boring, but Practical: Marra's fairy godmother Agnes gave her and her two older sisters the gift of health. Marra's at first outraged that Agnes didn't give them something with more immediate oomph, such as a blessing that would've protected her sisters from marrying the abusive Big Bad prince. But being healthy, As as Agnes points out, is pretty much always useful and doesn't have nasty side effects or unintended consequences. By contrast, the far more grand and exciting-sounding blessing the godmother of the Northern Kingdom gives is actually a curse and is the reason all its kings die young.
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 Nettle & Bone / int_44749cee
type
Nothing but Skin and Bones
 Nettle & Bone / int_44749cee
comment
Nothing but Skin and Bones: The Northern Kingdom's Fairy Godmother is so old that she's gone past wrinkles and on to translucent skin stretched taut over her skull. When she's finally able to die, the skin simply crumbles off the bone.
 Nettle & Bone / int_44749cee
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 Nettle & Bone / int_57df9056
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Glamour
 Nettle & Bone / int_57df9056
comment
Glamour: A stall at the Goblin Market sells magical disguises for nearly anything, animal, vegetable, or mineral. Marra buys one to make her skeletal Canine Companion look and feel like a living dog. (Sound would have been trickier and more expensive.)
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Nettle & Bone / int_57df9056
 Nettle & Bone / int_590eb583
type
Domestic Abuse
 Nettle & Bone / int_590eb583
comment
Domestic Abuse: Prince Vorling is thoroughly bad—cruel, despotic, controlling, paranoid. He killed Damia, Marra's eldest sister, and now has middle sister Kania in his clutches.
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Really 700 Years Old
 Nettle & Bone / int_5c5ac0e2
comment
Really 700 Years Old: The Northern Kingdom's Fairy Godmother.
 Nettle & Bone / int_5c5ac0e2
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 Nettle & Bone / int_65488bb3
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Map All Along
 Nettle & Bone / int_65488bb3
comment
Map All Along: Marra identifies directions through the palace crypts encoded in the weave of the tapestry the Northern Godmother gave her. Justified because a Magically-Binding Contract prevents her from aiding Marra, so she can only give her the tapestry because Marra doesn't understand its significance at first.
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 Nettle & Bone / int_6622ae42
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Non-Human Undead
 Nettle & Bone / int_6622ae42
comment
Nonhuman Undead: Bonedog, the dog made of bones.
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 Nettle & Bone / int_7b7f1657
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Canine Companion
 Nettle & Bone / int_7b7f1657
comment
Canine Companion: Bonedog, the dog Marra constructed out of bones for one of her tasks, remains her loyal companion.
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 Nettle & Bone / int_84313b4f
type
The Three Trials
 Nettle & Bone / int_84313b4f
comment
The Three Trials: Three impossible tasks set by the dust-wife before she will agree to help Marra. Afterwards, the dust-wife admits that they were a deterrent, not a test, but Marra was too stubborn to quit.
 Nettle & Bone / int_84313b4f
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Nettle & Bone / int_84313b4f
 Nettle & Bone / int_86ba007a
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Bad Powers, Good People
 Nettle & Bone / int_86ba007a
comment
Bad Powers, Good People: Agnes. As the dust-wife puts it, "Evil magic could flow through her like a river in full flood. Fortunately for the rest of us, there's a lot of Agnes in the way." This is also the reason Agnes doesn't do a lot of big magic; she basically can't cast anything serious unless she's trying to hurt somebody, and she doesn't want to hurt people.
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Nettle & Bone / int_86ba007a
 Nettle & Bone / int_8941750b
type
Willfully Weak
 Nettle & Bone / int_8941750b
comment
Willfully Weak: Agnes doesn't use her curse powers because being a decent person is much more important to her.
 Nettle & Bone / int_8941750b
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 Nettle & Bone / int_8bd9ed0f
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Fairy Godmother
 Nettle & Bone / int_8bd9ed0f
comment
Fairy Godmother: A godmother is an actual job title in this world, complete with abilities and expectations.
 Nettle & Bone / int_8bd9ed0f
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 Nettle & Bone / int_906365a2
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Demonic Possession
 Nettle & Bone / int_906365a2
comment
Demonic Possession: The dust-wife says to beware of her chicken, who's got a devil in her. Literally.
 Nettle & Bone / int_906365a2
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 Nettle & Bone / int_96a2363c
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Bathos
 Nettle & Bone / int_96a2363c
comment
Bathos: Marra might be on a quest to assassinate an evil prince, but she has any number of incongruously ordinary experiences along the way. Exemplified when she reaches the famous dust-wife's home and sees chickens in the yard.
 Nettle & Bone / int_96a2363c
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 Nettle & Bone / int_a6327754
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Touch the Intangible
 Nettle & Bone / int_a6327754
comment
Touch the Intangible: The dust-wife can somehow trap moonlight in a jar. She says the feat would have "broken" Marra, but doesn't elaborate.
 Nettle & Bone / int_a6327754
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Nettle & Bone / int_a6327754
 Nettle & Bone / int_bd6b86df
type
Impossible Task
 Nettle & Bone / int_bd6b86df
comment
Impossible Task: Three of them. Marra must sew a cloak from owlcloth and nettle wool she's spun herself, build a dog from cursed bones, and capture moonlight in a jar.
 Nettle & Bone / int_bd6b86df
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Nettle & Bone / int_bd6b86df
 Nettle & Bone / int_c8e5ead1
type
Impossible Task Instantly Accomplished
 Nettle & Bone / int_c8e5ead1
comment
Impossible Task Instantly Accomplished: The dust-wife assigns impossible tasks because they're supposed to be impossible. When Marra completes the first two through sheer self-destructive determination, the dust-wife spots her the third task and agrees to help. (Actually performing it, says the dust-wife, would have cost Marra her heart.)
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Nettle & Bone / int_c8e5ead1
 Nettle & Bone / int_cf874ceb
type
Immortal Apathy
 Nettle & Bone / int_cf874ceb
comment
Immortal Apathy: The Northern Kingdom's godmother is said to have outlived all her feelings; when she's not performing her duties, she simply sits at home for decades. She's equally unconcerned to finally die.
 Nettle & Bone / int_cf874ceb
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Nettle & Bone / int_cf874ceb
 Nettle & Bone / int_d8f18dad
type
Withholding Their Name
 Nettle & Bone / int_d8f18dad
comment
Withholding Their Name: The dust-wife confirms that she has a name, but it is never revealed.
 Nettle & Bone / int_d8f18dad
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 Nettle & Bone / int_e542b0f5
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Geas
 Nettle & Bone / int_e542b0f5
comment
Geas: Agnes uses this for Mundane Utility, cursing a chicken to die unless it leads her to a place of safety in an unfriendly city. The chicken runs straight to a good boarding house.
 Nettle & Bone / int_e542b0f5
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 Nettle & Bone / int_efd11fe3
type
A Dog Named "Dog"
 Nettle & Bone / int_efd11fe3
comment
A Dog Named "Dog": Bonedog is, well, a dog made out of bones.
 Nettle & Bone / int_efd11fe3
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 Nettle & Bone / int_f93e1eb7
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Locked Away in a Monastery
 Nettle & Bone / int_f93e1eb7
comment
Locked Away in a Monastery: Marra is sent to live in a nunnery to keep her safely unmarried—both so that she doesn't bear any inconvenient legitimate royal children who might challenge Vorling's children for the succession of the Harbor Kingdom, and so that she's available as a backup bride if Vorling kills Kania too.
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 Nettle & Bone / int_fca0d9be
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Magic Prerequisite
 Nettle & Bone / int_fca0d9be
comment
Magic Prerequisite: The goblin market is only accessible at the right time of the moon and from a liminal location.
 Nettle & Bone / int_fca0d9be
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Nettle & Bone

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

 Nettle & Bone
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Bathos / int_7826f7fe
 Nettle & Bone
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Bazaar of the Bizarre / int_7826f7fe
 Nettle & Bone
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Canine Companion / int_7826f7fe
 Nettle & Bone
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Fantastic Light Source / int_7826f7fe
 Nettle & Bone
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Geas / int_7826f7fe
 Nettle & Bone
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Glamour / int_7826f7fe
 Nettle & Bone
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Impossible Task / int_7826f7fe
 Nettle & Bone
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It May Help You on Your Quest / int_7826f7fe
 Nettle & Bone
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Literature of the 2020s / int_7826f7fe
 Nettle & Bone
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Map All Along / int_7826f7fe
 Nettle & Bone
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Non-Human Undead / int_7826f7fe
 Nettle & Bone
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Nothing but Skin and Bones / int_7826f7fe
 Nettle & Bone
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The Three Trials / int_7826f7fe
 Nettle & Bone
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Touch the Intangible / int_7826f7fe
 Nettle & Bone
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Willfully Weak / int_7826f7fe
 Nettle & Bone
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Withholding Their Name / int_7826f7fe