Arthur spends most of the series making friends with various Denizens. He does the same in the Gardens in Lord Sunday, and his new friend leads him outside. Straight into a trap. It turns out the gardening boy is actually Lord Sunday in disguise. Actually Not a Vampire: While Fetchers are not vampires, being bipedal dog-like humanoids. Howver Arthur specifically notes similar traits between them, such as the fact they Must Be Invited to gain entry to a building, and that they can be killed by salt or silver. The Compleat Atlas of the House is a pretty major one; in Lord Sunday Arthur uses it to, ahem, remake the Universe. Arthur himself. By the third book, Japeth has been assigned to writing fictionalized versions of his already fairly impressive accomplishments that portray him as seven-foot tall, and looking something akin to a Greek God. Needless to say, people often tend to be somewhat disappointed on meeting him in person.

Hippie Parents: Leaf's parents, who are not only huge on environmentalism, but also gave their children some interesting names and keep only wooden utensils and jewellery in the house. It's implied that this runs in the family somewhat, from what Leaf says of her grandmother. Magic Music: The Piper's pipes can force Piper's Children or Raised Rats to obey the Piper's commands. Komisař pomalu sklopil hlavu, aby se na sebe podíval, pozvedl nezměněnou ruku, aby se dotkl hrudi, potom strnul a z koutků očí a z úst se mu vyřinul slabý čůrek stříbrné tekutiny. Piper's Children have their original first name followed by a set of words related to their job (Suzy and Arthur's two fake names involved ink coloring, while Fred presumably handles adding golden initials and numbers. The original inhabitants of the House are called 'Denizens' and are nearly immortal, though there are a few things that can kill them. Denizens are not supposed to interfere with the normal universe, but they are capable of this to some extent (a Trustee can only go to Earth on their "day") and they do. Apart from original House creatures, there are also the 'Piper's Children' and 'Raised Rats' (a group of anthropomorphic rats), which were both brought into the House by a House creature called the Piper, and so-called 'Nithlings'. Nithlings are creatures that come into existence out of the magical substance 'Nothing'; they can kill Denizens and go to the universe freely. Hordes of Nithlings fight with the Denizens, but there are also Nithlings that are allied with the Denizens and are used, for example, to wreak havoc on Earth.Fantasy Kitchen Sink: Elements of Christian theology, Ancient Greek myth, and European folklore are all present in the House. The protagonist actually meets the Pied Piper, the Ancient Mariner, and a towering old man who is suspiciously similar to Prometheus. See Who Wants to Live Forever?, below. If Arthur realized at any point what was going on, there is no way he would have gone through with it and the Architect's plan would have been ruined then. However, she's able to be enough of a Manipulative Bastard that he's not able to figure out the truth in time.

Probably the most notable is The Ancient Mariner being a major secondary character. And he's awesome. He also has a ship that can sail in space shaped like a giant turtle.

Desperate, Arthur ventures into a mysterious house a house that only he can see. It is in this house that Arthur must unravel the secrets of the key and discover his true fate. Line-of-Sight Name: Arthur, to prevent being noticed, thinks of being soldier " Ray Green" in Sir Thursday from seeing the sun's rays and the forest nearby. Winged Humanoid: Several types of Denizens and Nithlings have wings. Removable wings in varying degrees of usefulness also exist. Grim Tuesday took his three Denizens, melded them into one and then separated that into seven, calling them Grotesques and giving them each different names. It's unknown what time they can be on Earth.

Our Vampires Are Different: Lady Friday can be interpreted in this vein, but draining emotions and memories rather than blood. The Piper sees this between himself and Lord Sunday, especially since he thinks that Sunday threw him into the Nothing. Evil Is Sterile: It is mentioned that only The Architect, The Old One, or humans can create anything original. The Denizens can only copy things they've seen. This becomes important later. Not only are the trustees the 7 days of the week, it seems they represent the 7 cardinal sins (right now I am reading Drowned Wednesday which looks like it is about the sin of gluttony). The first part of the Will has managed to break free and, by convenience, has chosen Arthur as the 'rightful heir' who must recover the other lost parts of the Will; this has led to Monday giving up half of his Key to him. In the first book, Arthur defeats Monday and takes control of the first part of the House. Books two to five follow a somewhat regular pattern: in each, Arthur tries to gain control over one part of the House, and ultimately succeeds after various challenges, setting free one part of the Will. Each book features one main antagonist, usually the Trustee of that part of the House, with the exception of one Trustee who wants the Will to be fulfilled but has been overthrown by the other Trustees. Sometimes, the Trustees sow chaos on Earth while he is away in the House.America, the UK, and Australia are all likely candidates, however. References to bushfires and the Australian emergency lines suggest Australia, but pounds are in use. Dame Primus. However, Arthur suspects she's actually not acting in his best interests at all. He's right, in a roundabout sort of way. Garth's books include: the YA fantasy Old Kingdom series, including Sabriel, Lirael, Abhorsen, Clariel and Goldenhand; SF novels Shade's Children and A Confusion of Princes; and a Regency romance with magic, Newt's Emerald. His fantasy novels for children include The Ragwitch, the six books of The Seventh Tower sequence, The Keys to the Kingdom series and others. He has co-written several books with Sean Williams, including the Troubletwisters series and the forthcoming Have Sword, Will Travel. Lord Sunday to an extent, being too proud to actually do anything until it's too late but possibly the most powerful Denizen in the House.