The Dalemark Quartet

Larger than the world, or small as in a nut.


A series of four books by British young adult fantasy author Diana Wynne Jones, best known for Howl's Moving Castle and Chrestomanci. The Dalemark Quartet is about a country called Dalemark with a troubled history. It differs from Wynne Jones's usual fare, in that it is a quite serious fantasy epic, whereas many of her works, such as The Tough Guide to Fantasyland, are satirical.

There are four books in the series. In order of publication, they are...

  1. Cart and Cwidder
  2. Drowned Ammet
  3. The Spellcoats
  4. The Crown of Dalemark

Chronologically, The Spellcoats takes place first, during Dalemark's prehistorical period. Cart and Cwidder and Drowned Ammet overlap somewhat, but Cart and Cwidder generally comes first, as its events are over before the action really starts in Drowned Ammet. The Crown of Dalemark takes place last.

Each book has a different protagonist, although all of the characters appear in the final volume, The Crown of Dalemark.

Tropes used in The Dalemark Quartet include:

This grittling the boys on fayside were at trase with peelers, would you believe! They had sein right too, so it was all kappin and no barlay. We only had mucks. But Biffa was our surnam and you should have seen the hurrel. Now highside is doggers and we have herison from scap to lengday, and everyone looks up to us although we are to be stapled for it. In haste to trethers. Hildrida.

  • Call on Me - Old Ammet and Libby Beer.
  • Call to Agriculture - This is what Mitt wants to do. The Call doesn't care what Mitt wants.
  • Changing of the Guard - Each book has a different main character, although The Spellcoats is actually set much farther in the past than the rest of the series.
  • Chekhov's Skill - Tanaqui's talented weaving turns out to be more than just a handy domestic skill.
  • Child Mage - Duck, Mori to an extent
  • The Chosen One - He came North on wind's road, with a great one to guide him behind and before.
  • City of Spies - Just about any city in the South.
  • Clingy MacGuffin - The Adon's ring, which adjusts its size to fit any finger of the rightful heir to the crown of Dalemark.
  • Cloudcuckoolander - Moril is a mild example.
  • Contemptible Cover - A lot of the covers are bad, but one particular Cart and Cwidder cover takes the cake.
  • Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass - Navis in Drowned Ammet.
  • Crowning Music of Awesome - In-universe, Moril + Cwidder = This
  • Cute Shotaro Boy - Ynen, d'awwwwwwwwwwwwww.
  • Dark-Skinned Blond - The people of the North. In The Spellcoats, the Heathens.
  • Dawn of an Era - In two separate books: The Spellcoats marks the beginning of Dalemark history, with the crowning of the legendary King Hern, the first king of Dalemark; in The Crown of Dalemark, Dalemark's centuries of interregnum end with the ascension of King Amil the Great.
  • Deadpan Snarker - Navis, so much.
  • Didn't See That Coming - Keril was definitely not expecting to see one claimant to the throne crown the other.
  • Dirty Business - The Crown of Dalemark opens with Earl Keril and the Countess of Aberath ordering Mitt to assassinate a claimant to the throne.
  • Divided States of America - Or: Divided Earldoms of Dalemark.
  • Doorstopper - The omnibus editions.
  • Downer Ending - The Crown of Dalemark may or may not have one of these depending on whether Maewen is Undying or not.
  • The Dreaded - Harchad, Earl Hadd's second son. Mitt brushes Harchad's reputation off right up until he sees him...and then everything he's heard catches up with him and he practically wets himself in terror.
  • Ear Worm - In-universe, Dagner is good at composing these.
  • Earn Your Happy Ending - Good god, poor Mitt.
  • End of an Age - Although it's not quite so obvious, Amil's ascension to the throne marks the beginning of an age of reason. Before then, belief in the Undying was pretty much a given, so in Maewen's time, they're mostly considered a superstition.
  • Enemy to All Living Things - Kankredin
  • The Engineer - Alk
  • Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep" - The Countess of Aberath, whose real name is never even mentioned by her husband.
  • Everyone Is Related
  • Evil Sorcerer - Kankredin in The Spellcoats.
  • Exclusively Evil - Big Bad Evil Sorcerer Kankredin.
  • Fantasy Gun Control - Guns exist in Dalemark, but primarily in the wealthy South, where the earls (who have all the money) can afford to finance gunsmiths and arm their soldiers with guns. In the North guns are much rarer, restricted to a handful of moderately wealthy earls, and smuggled from the South. The North's and South's armor reflects this: soldiers in the South wear metal breastplates with exaggerated curves to deflect bullets.
  • Fantasy World Map - Left Justified Fantasy World Map
  • Fighting a Shadow - Kankredin
  • Final Battle - Averted. The Battle of Kernsburgh that we see in the fourth book is only the first battle of Dalemark's unification war.
  • Fire-Forged Friends - Moril and Kialian, Mitt and Moril.
  • Fish Out of Temporal Water
  • Five-Man Band - In the third and fourth books.
  • Forbidden Zone - The old mill across the River in The Spellcoats.
  • Four-Temperament Ensemble - Dagner, Brid, Moril, and Kialan
  • Freudian Trio - Brid (Id), Moril (Ego), Kialan (Superego)
  • Geometric Magic - Tanaqui's weaving, which uses a form of writing.
  • Ghibli Hills - North Dalemark.
  • Girl Meets Boy - Maewen meets Mitt.
  • The Girl Who Fits This Slipper - The Adon's ring is said to fit any finger on either hand of the true heir, no matter how big or small.
  • God in Human Form - The Undying when bound. They still have supernatural powers, but they're extremely diminished.
  • God's Hands Are Tied - The bound Undying, especially the One.
  • Good Is Not Nice - A number of Northern earls, especially Earl Keril. Also Navis Haddsson, who is on the lighter side of good but noted by history to have been absolutely ruthless.
  • Half-Human Hybrid - Tanaqui and her siblings: human dad, Undying mom.
  • Hazardous Water
  • Hellish Horse - Maewen's horse turns out to be the sorceror Kankredin in disguise.
  • Herald - Wend for Maewen.
  • Heroic Lineage - Left, right, and center.
  • Heterosexual Life Partners - Quite likely Mitt and Moril. Fandom loves portraying them like this.
  • How Do I Shot Web? - Moril logically breaks down how the cwidder works, but realizes in the end that he's too young and has too little life experience to use it at all times.
  • Huge Schoolgirl - Biffa
  • Human Popsicle - Tanamil turns Gull into one.
  • I Have Many Names - The Undying tend to rack up a number over time, with each name having a great deal of significance.
  • I Know Your True Name - Old Ammet's true names count though.
  • Immortality - The One has Complete Immortality, while the rest of the Undying seem to be either The Ageless or have a Healing Factor. Kankredin, meanwhile, is physically gone, but his soul continues to poison Dalemark by taking root in the land and feeding off of the chaos it causes.
  • Incest Is Relative - Pretty much every major character is related, albeit some (much) more distantly than others.
  • It's for a Book - Maewen's father takes her sudden and intense interest in the reign of Amil the Great to mean that she's writing a historical novel. He's just glad she's doing the research.
  • Jade-Colored Glasses - Earl Keril
  • Jumped At the Call - Mitt, who decides that becoming a revolutionary at the age of ten is a grand idea.
  • Kick the Dog - Tholian displays what an utter scumbag he is when he strings Kialan up in a very painful way, just so Tholian can watch him suffer.
  • The Kingdom - Dalemark. Missing a king at the moment, but they get there.
  • La Résistance - There are numerous freedom fighting organizations in the South, although they're all pretty much ineffective.
    • Subverted by Hobin, whose role in the series proper is sympathetic and fatherly. He's biding his time until a proper revolution begins, but the series glossary at the end details what happens to him. After living under the thumb of vindictive Southern earls for his whole life, he refuses to bow to a king, even when that king is his own stepson. He's credited with leading a violent bloodbath in Holand a la The French Revolution, and it's very strongly implied that he murdered his own wife and daughters, who couldn't have been more than five at the time. His epithet is Hobin the Bloody.
  • Large and In Charge - Alk
  • Last Girl Wins - Mitt winds up marry....Biffa!
  • Legacy Immortality - When he takes the throne, Mitt takes the name Amil, one of the names of The One. This binds him to The One's duty to root out Kankredin from the land, even after the end of his reign. He passes this name on to his son, as well.
    • Also, two of Clennen the Singer's children, Brid and Moril, are named after legendary historical figures, Manaliabrid and Osfameron. Their companion Kialan is the Adon, the title given to the heir to the earldom of Hannart. The similarities between some of their experiences (particularly Moril's) and their predecessors' are referenced a lot in Cart and Cwidder.
  • Literary Agent Hypothesis - A note at the end of The Spellcoats indicates that it's supposed to be a translation of the titular Spellcoats by historians in Hannart.
  • Luke, I Am Your Father - Mitt's father turns out to be Al, which is short for Alhammitt.
  • The Magic Goes Away - Averted. Although people in the present no longer believe in the Undying, that doesn't stop them from hanging around and being as active as they've always been.
  • Magic Music - Moril's cwidder is a magic cwidder. Also, Mage Mallard, Tanamil's pipes, etc.
  • The Magnificent - King Amil the Great, Hobin the Bloody
  • The Magocracy - The Heathens of Haligland in The Spellcoats aren't actually ruled by wizards, but Kankredin has pretty much all of Haligland under the control of him and his college of sorcerers.
  • Mayfly-December Romance - Pick an Undying, any Undying. Then pick their lover (or one of them). Old Ammet and Libby Beer are notable exceptions, both being Undying themselves.
  • Meaningful Name - Osfameron Tanamoril, Cennoreth Manaliabrid, Alhammitt, Wind's Road, Ynen, Tannoreth...
  • Meaningful Rename - Mitt changes his name to Amil when he becomes king.
  • The Mole - Hestefan
  • Music for Courage - "We are the men of the North, the North, / And I'll tell you how much we're worth, we're worth--"
  • Mythopoeia
  • Never Accepted In Their Hometown - Tanaqui and her siblings.
  • Never Got to Say Goodbye - Almost played straight in The Crown of Dalemark, then subverted hard.
  • Nice to the Waiter - Navis does this fairly early on and keeps it up. Notable because he's one of Hadd's sons, who are not, as a rule, known to be nice to anybody.
  • Obfuscating Stupidity - Clennen
  • Officer and a Gentleman - Navis
  • Older Than They Look - The Undying, who often look quite young, though they shift between this and looking old.
  • One Degree of Separation - Moril is directly descended from Osfameron, who is, in turn, a direct grandson of The One. Mitt is directly descended from the last king of Dalemark, who was in turn also directly descended from another of The One's grandsons. Maewen is quite possibly of The One's bloodline, considering her uncanny resemblance to Noreth Onesdaughter. Then there are all the earls and the earls' children and grandchildren.
    • Maewen is actually descended from both of them. Her father is descended from a line of singers, one of whom was "probably named Clennen," and her mother's line is related to Mitt's.
  • One Steve Limit - The reason Mitt takes on the name Amil.
  • Our Founder - Not a statue (although there are probably several), but a painting. The mural on ceiling of one of the rooms in the royal palace hilariously depicts King Amil wearing an absurd pair of violet breeches.
  • Overly Long Name - Clennen is overly fond of these, so his children and his horse all have one.
  • Pals with Jesus - Mitt, who receives regular visits from Old Ammet and Libby Beer
  • Parental Abandonment - Most of the main cast, to some degree.
  • Planet of Steves - The city of Holand, where half the men are named Alhammitt.
  • Plucky Girl - Brid, Tanaqui
  • Point of View - The Spellcoats is written in the first person, from Tanaqui's perspective.
  • A Protagonist Shall Lead Them - Hern in The Spellcoats, Mitt in The Crown of Dalemark.
  • The Quest - The basic plot of the fourth book.
  • The Quiet One - Moril and Ynen are shades of this.
  • Rags to Royalty - Mitt, Hern
  • Reasonable Authority Figure - Kialan in the first book, Navis in the second, Kars Adon in the third, Alk in the fourth.
  • Requisite Royal Regalia - The goal of The Quest is to collect four of these: cup, ring, sword, and crown.
  • Rewriting Reality - Cennoreth the Weaver, one of the Undying, can do this by unpicking and resetting her weaving. She's done it twice. Osfameron's cwidder can also do this, to an extent, by making an idea into the truth.
  • Rich Bitch - While Hildy's attitude is almost redeemable in Drowned Ammet, who didn't seriously want to slap her for how she treats Mitt in the fourth book?
  • Rightful King Returns
  • Robe and Wizard Hat - Kankredin's sorcerers wear robes that say things like "I sent the hidden death..." and "I tortured the beast..." The claims woven in these robes function as the sorcerers' names.
  • Rousing Speech - Hern's quite good at these in The Spellcoats.
    • Lampshaded in The Crown of Dalemark by Maewen, who's terrified of having to give these while she's impersonating Noreth.
  • Royals Who Actually Do Something - King Amil the Great, who united and modernized Dalemark, following the tradition of his ancestor, King Hern.
  • Samus Is a Girl - On the road to Adenmouth, Mitt encounters another hearthman named Rith...who turns out to be the girl Mitt has just been ordered to kill.
  • Say My Name - An interesting variation, wherein saying one of the true names of two of the Undying causes hurricanes to spring up out of nowhere and islands to grow out of the ocean.
  • Sealed Good in a Can - Undying can only be bound to godhead if their likeness is taken (portrait, photo, statue, &c.). The One's power was limited this way.
  • Silly Rabbit, Idealism Is for Kids - Earl Keril, whose experiences as a revolutionary in his youth have made him believe that change is pointless.
  • Simultaneous Arcs - The first book takes place during the first five chapters of the second.
  • Single Line of Descent - Although there are a number of characters related by virtue of centuries passing during the course of Dalemark's history, Mitt is the only claimant to the throne who is a direct descendent of the Adon.
  • Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism - In the first two books, South Dalemark is horrible and oppressed and North Dalemark is made out to be lovely and free. Then we actually get North in the last book.
  • Sour Supporter - Earl Keril, Hildy. Possibly other earls and lords of Dalemark were this, since their options during Dalemark's unification were: 1) support it, 2) take a permanent vacation abroad, or 3) dance for the hangman.
  • Spell My Name with an "S" - In-universe example: spelling and dialect vary between the North and the South, such as with Kialan, whose Southern names are Collen and Halain.
  • Spoiled Brat - Hildy
  • Stable Time Loop
  • Star-Crossed Lovers - Subverted by Mitt and Maewen, but played straight if she's not one of the Undying.
  • Stay on the Path - Maewen's party sticks to the green roads, since they're guarded by the Undying.
  • A Storm Is Coming - Mitt, Ynen, and Hildy get hit by a massive autumn storm on their way north. Sure enough, next day, they accidentally rescue the man who shot the earl of Holand.
  • Succession Crisis - In Dalemark's past, this led to the current situation of the country being divided into its Earldoms.
  • Summon Magic - Mitt can do something like this by calling out Old Ammet's or Libby Beer's true names. The effect differs according to which name he calls.
  • Time Travel
  • Time Travel Romance - In the fourth book.
  • Trilogy Creep - Kind of. The fourth book was published almost four years after the third after Diana's publishers had been begging her for years, but it nicely ties together all three previous books and is quite good. Also, she never would have written it just because her publishers wanted her to if she didn't have an excellent idea of what to write.
  • Unreliable Narrator - The glossary, of all things. Some of it is straightforward history--meaning it was penned by someone who completely discounts Dalemark's myths.
  • Verbal Tic - The ultimate evil has one. Kankredin ends a lot of sentences with "eh?"
    • He must be Canadian.
  • Where It All Began - Maewen returns to the present just in time to...fight Kankredin!
  • The Wise Prince - Kars Adon
  • Wizards Live Longer - Nearly all the Undying seem to have magical abilities of some sort.
  • World Building
  • Xanatos Gambit - One way or another, Navis planned to get Mitt on the throne.
  • You Can't Fight Fate - Mitt becoming King
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