And for the second one, as he's about to kill Phillip in the Wicked Queen's throne room, he instead cuts out May's chains and triggers a fight in which the Queen kills him with his own sword.

For the first one, when Lian and an army of mermen are chasing after the trio and their mermaid companion Meghan, he lets go of the mermaid and takes on Lian to give the group a chance to escape. Heroic Sacrifice: Pulls this off twice.The Hero: While May and Phillip play almost as major a part in the story as he does, he is the one who sets off with May to rescue Snow White, and he gets many of the central moments of the books.He manages to outsmart and beat the Wicked Queen, of all people. He makes mistakes most of the time, but when he puts his smarts and cunning to the test, he can pull off miracles. When he goes into the library and reads about the fairy tales that inhabit his world (especially the ones about his family), his reaction is one of stunned shock. Fish out of Water/ Fish out of Temporal Water: When he lands in our world six months in the past, he is confused by everything that goes on around him, and it's only by some quick thinking and luck that he's able to get around.He starts to grow into a true hero as the adventure goes on, although that doesn't stop the other characters from putting him down at times.

Failure Hero: He's the worst when it comes to being a hero, and he's the only one in his class to actually fail the princess rescue test.Establishing Character Moment: His first scene is him failing the class's princess rescue test.He doesn't say anything, but does he really need to? Subverted when he survives. Dying Declaration of Love: In the third book, as he's about to die and he looks at May.

Dude, Where's My Respect?: Despite being the hero, just about everyone he meets tends to have little faith in him.

Disney Death: He actually dies by his own sword at the Queen's hand, but comes back to life because he put a healing potion on his sword.

Deadpan Snarker: He's as snarky and witty as they come.

Butt-Monkey: He just can't seem to catch a break, can he?.

Belligerent Sexual Tension: With May, oh so much.

In the second book, when Lian calls him out for sacrificing himself for the others, he responds that she was the one person who didn't treat him like dirt because of his father.

Because You Were Nice to Me: Implied towards Mary.

Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: For all the resentment he has toward his father and Jill, he still can't help but give them a hug when all the fighting is over and everyone is celebrating the victory over the Wicked Queen.

He lives with his grandfather and is at the bottom of his class when it comes to princess rescues. The hero of the story, a 14-year old ordinary boy from the village of Giant's Hand.

Half upon a time