Night Watcher: Difference between revisions

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* [[An Axe to Grind]]: Captain Kotov's weapon of choice. He occasionally jokingly calls it [[Heroes Prefer Swords|"my trusty sword"]].

* [[Badass Abnormal]]: Igor Dolinsky, though by vampire standards he would be an example of [[Weak but Skilled]].

* [[Bad Cop Incompetent Cop]]: The city militsiya force is systematically and thoroughly corrupt, to the point where {{spoiler|its [[Da Chief|commander]] was planning to use vampires in a power ploy against [[The Mafiya]]}}. This plan was only changed when {{spoiler|[[~~Its~~ Personal|his ''daughter'' was raped and turned into a vampire]]}}.

* [[Bad Cop Incompetent Cop]]: The city militsiya force is systematically and thoroughly corrupt, to the point where {{spoiler|its [[Da Chief|commander]] was planning to use vampires in a power ploy against [[The Mafiya]]}}. This plan was only changed when {{spoiler|[[It's Personal|his ''daughter'' was raped and turned into a vampire]]}}.

* [[Badass Normal]]: The human [[Vampire Hunter|Night Teams]] would probably qualify in general; the one seen in the book itself certainly does, seeing as it consists of just two cops ([[Combat Pragmatist|Captain Kotov]] and [[The Big Guy|Sergeant Zykov]], each badass in his own ways) that nonetheless are capable of fighting vampires in top shape when needed ([[Fighting Dirty|though they generally prefer to kill them in their sleep, of course]]).

* [[Big Bad]]: The title eventually turns out to refer to this guy.

* [[Cowboy Cop]]: Captain Kotov was starting to become this (even shooting a dangerous criminal with [[Karma Houdini]] tendencies in cold blood, though that was equal parts vigilantism and suicidal tendencies) before he veered into [[Vampire Hunter]] territory. Though that only really meant that he was now a Cowboy Vampire Hunter, especially after he went out of the [[Government Conspiracy]]'s control by contacting Igor, their chief informer and local vampire specialist, directly.

* [[Da Chief]]: [[Everyone Calls Him Barkeep|The General]], though he's rather more cooperative and pragmatic than is usual for this trope.

* [[Da Chief]]: [[Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep"|The General]], though he's rather more cooperative and pragmatic than is usual for this trope.

* [[Despair Event Horizon]]: Igor Dolinsky undergoes this after {{spoiler|his wife became a vampire}}. See trope entry.

* [[Evil Detecting Dog]]: Grey, Igor Dolinsky's [[Canine Companion]], has an adverse reaction to vampires, which means he mostly just kills them on sight. Also, all the village animals dislike Vova, who, while not evil, was admittedly terrorising everyone with his psychic powers out of sheer fear.

* [[Evil-Detecting Dog]]: Grey, Igor Dolinsky's [[Canine Companion]], has an adverse reaction to vampires, which means he mostly just kills them on sight. Also, all the village animals dislike Vova, who, while not evil, was admittedly terrorising everyone with his psychic powers out of sheer fear.

* [[The Faceless]]: The Elders, by means of [[Telepathy|messing with everyone's heads]]. Also, if they even exist, {{spoiler|The Future Ones}}.

* [[The Fettered]]: Igor Dolinsky, especially after overcoming his [[Despair Event Horizon]]. Vova seems to develop into this as well by the end, being already incapable of lying and learning to use his powers thoughtfully and responsibly.

* [[Five Man Band|Six Man Band]]: Not a clean case by far, but one can be argued for in the final battle:

* [[Five-Man Band|Six Man Band]]: Not a clean case by far, but one can be argued for in the final battle:

** [[The Hero]]/[[The Smart Guy]]: Igor Dolinsky

** [[The Lancer]]: Captain Kotov

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* [[Horror Hunger]]: Vampires. Blood. It's oh so very graphic and gruesomely described at some point (the hunger more so than the act of satisfying it, actually), especially by a character that managed to resist the temptation, but at great difficulty and at a horrible cost (he needed to be tied up in the basement ''for months'').

* [[Hunter of His Own Kind]]: Night Watchers are supposed to be this, though for purposes of population control and masquerade maintenance ( {{spoiler|the one send to this town went bad on all counts}}). Igor Dolinsky probably counts as well.

* [[I Hate You Vampire Dad]]: Averted/carried over by one degree as neither Igor nor Mikhail hate their respective love partners (lover in Igor's case, wife in Mikhail's) for turning them into vampires, but they do both resent whoever turned ''them'' into vampires in the first place. Also averted/inverted with {{spoiler|Igor's wife, who, despite secretly becoming a vampire herself after being raped by her husband in a mindless frenzy, forgives him and helps him save himself, then turns out to have come to enjoy the vampire lifestyle herself, eventually being salvaged by and enrolled into the "true vampire" conspiracy, effectively disappearing from Igor's wife forever. Needless to say, Igor hates ''himself'' for all this to the point of a [[Heroic BSOD]].}}

* [[I Hate You, Vampire Dad]]: Averted/carried over by one degree as neither Igor nor Mikhail hate their respective love partners (lover in Igor's case, wife in Mikhail's) for turning them into vampires, but they do both resent whoever turned ''them'' into vampires in the first place. Also averted/inverted with {{spoiler|Igor's wife, who, despite secretly becoming a vampire herself after being raped by her husband in a mindless frenzy, forgives him and helps him save himself, then turns out to have come to enjoy the vampire lifestyle herself, eventually being salvaged by and enrolled into the "true vampire" conspiracy, effectively disappearing from Igor's wife forever. Needless to say, Igor hates ''himself'' for all this to the point of a [[Heroic BSOD]].}}

* [[Looks Like Orlok]]: [[Space Whale Aesop|Don't drink blood or this will happen to you!]] Eventually.

* [[Magic Knight]]: Igor's main assets are his connections within the town's establishment and his intimidating psychic powers, but he is also quite handy with a tire iron.

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* [[Not Using the Z Word]]: Mikhail dislikes the stupid, vulgar foreign term "vampire" that everyone else in the book is all too happy to use and decides to come up with his own. He eventually invents the term "nochnoy" ("Nocturnal"), though it fails to catch on {{spoiler|until the epilogue, where he is dead and his friends have began to use this, in what might be a stealth [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming]]}}.

* [[Our Vampires Are Different]]: Oh boy, let's see. There are approximately three or four types, though the boundaries between some of them can be pretty formal. Upon infection, all vampires gain greater-than-human strength, speed and senses, not to mention [[Psychic Powers]], at night, but also become lethargic by day and compelled to drink human blood. Blood gives a tremendous boost to their strength, speed, etc. (as well as self-confidence, often to disastrous degrees), but a) the boost is temporary, b) blood is addictive and c) bloodsuckers begin to wear out quickly, becoming worse and worse off during the day and eventually beginning to degenerate into mindless animals even in night life. As they become dumber, they also begin to get together into animalistic hunting packs, led by a likewise-decaying, but somehow stronger and more dangerous "alpha"; this helps them survive longer, unless they are killed by other vampires or attract too much attention and are killed by humans. Not all vampires have to be this way, though - if you manage to quit blood cold turkey, you become something that could be called a half-vampire or a super vampire; basically, you miss out on the blood boost (unless you eventually drink blood anyway, which may be enough to start the decay all over again, though chances are you still are going to be way more powerful than your simpler bloodsucker peers), but you still are superior to normal humans in every way, and you don't suffer any of this decay. You do become rather detached from [[Muggles|ordinary humans]], though. Most of the vampires that successfully kicked their blood habit join the extant [[Masquerade|vampire conspiracy]], starting out as very relatively sociable Masters and eventually moving up to be becoming reclusive, powerful (especially with regards to the aforementioned [[Psychic Powers]]) Elders, who apparently feed on pure energy streams that humanity doesn't even know to exist and are [[The Faceless|purposefully never seen]]. Some more "vampire facts":

** It is mentioned, in a [[All Just a Dream|mind]][[Or Was It a Dream|screwy]] segment, that they were originally created {{spoiler|in the 20th century in a series of unconnected military experiments, mainly ran by non-nuclear powers trying - and failing - to get an edge over advanced societies.}} If true, they have absolutely zero connection to the vampires of legend, though, as said, it might have all been a dream.

** It is mentioned, in a [[All Just a Dream|mind]][[Or Was It a Dream?|screwy]] segment, that they were originally created {{spoiler|in the 20th century in a series of unconnected military experiments, mainly ran by non-nuclear powers trying - and failing - to get an edge over advanced societies.}} If true, they have absolutely zero connection to the vampires of legend, though, as said, it might have all been a dream.

** Vampires are ''not'' immortal. Even the Elders can live to a bit over 150 at best, though they remain fully active to the end. Ordinary bloodsuckers can last 6 years, maybe, but most of them die unnaturally long before that. It's hinted that the immortality myth is just an element of Elder propaganda, aimed at intimidating the humans and keeping the lower-ranking vampires in line.

** Vampires are very hard to kill, but not really immune to normal weapons as such. Their [[Achilles Heel|one big weakness]] is silver; the [[Vampire Hunter|Night Teams]] therefore use injections. Daylight effectively suppresses most regular vampires, pisses off their pack leaders if they are attacked during the day, and hasn't much of an effect on non-blood-sucker vampires