History Literature / Metro2033

* ArtisticLicenseGeography: Whilst many of the stations in the Moscow Metro are deep enough to shelter in during nuclear war (in fact, sections of Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya line were deep sunk for this purpose), many of the stations were constructed using a "cut and cover" technique, which would probably collapse in the event of a nuclear blast. For instance, the Communist stations on the Red Line are all pre-ColdWar, and are not nearly deep enough, nor are the three Nazi stations.

* EstrogenBrigadeBait: Rusakov, who is introduced as "the handsome man in leather" and is referred as such during every single sentence he appears in (with also: "His handsome masculine face", "his handsome, manly face" and "a beautiful brace face and a strong chin").

* ScamReligion: Both subverted and followed straight with [[spoiler: the Great Worm cultists. The creator of the religion says he was outright lying to his followers, just to spread his hate against machines… but then Artyom sees something big moving in the tunnels, implied to be said Great Worm]].

* BlobMonster: There's... something, beneath the Kremlin, which induces incredible levels of euphoria in its victims making suicide seem like a good idea to them. It's only described as a shapeless mass.

* NuclearNasty: the surface world is made of this trope to the point of {{Narm}}. Looks like in this verse, hard radiation actually does produce monsters, mutants and dinosaurs, 1950s style. And bioweapons produce {{Blob Monster}}s.

* AllJustADream: A rather nasty one, where [[spoiler:Hunter saves Atryom from being hanged by the Fourth Reich... Aaaand then Artyom wakes up leaning against a door in one of their cells]].

* BrownNote: During any excursion onto [[DeathWorld the surface]], one rule above all prevails: ''Don't look at the Kremlin''.[[note]]The abovementioned BlobMonster resides in its depths and, ''somehow'', catching a glimpse of the Kremlin from anywhere in Moscow is enough to make you think mindlessly treking into the Kremlin basement is a good idea[[/note]]

* CutAndPasteTranslation: Occasionally obvious. Several idioms, a well as Mat is literally translated.

* DespairEventHorizon: In Metro 2034 [[spoiler: Melnik reveals Artyom to have gone insane for a short period of time after the events of 2033. Apparently, he got better and even married in the span of one year, but all we have in Melnik's word on it - and he doesn't even say Artyom's name. Of course, we all remember how communication in the metro is falible… ]]

* EstablishingCharacterMoment: When Artyom [[spoiler: kills the nazi]].
* EstrogenBrigadeBait: Rusakov, who's introduced as "the handsome man in leather" and is refered as such during every single sentence he appears in (with also: "His handsome masculine face", "his handsome, manly face" and "a beautiful brace face and a strong chin").

* GenreBlindness: Sure, Artyom, go ahead and wander off among the bookshelves while Daniel ties his shoelaces. It's not like the two of you are alone in an extremely ''creepy'', extremely ''dangerous'', and extremely '''''monster-infested''''' library.

* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: Oh yes. The Metro is sprinkled with all sorts of wierd phenomena, but the narration usually presents different explanations for each of them, and whether the cause is supernatural or not is often left ambiguous. [[spoiler:Is the [[BlobMonster state]] of the Kremlin the result of a biological weapon or ''trapped demons''? Is the huge object Artyom sees in a parallel tunnel the Great Worm or a giant drilling vehicle? Is the insanity-inducing noise in the tunnels caused by spirits in the pipes or harmonic oscillations?]]
* MeaningfulName: Artyom is the Russian masculine form of the Greek name Artemisios, relating to the Greek goddess of the hunt. She obviously had to have excellent aim, as Artyom himself is said to have by Hunter...but two of the possible Greek cognate words for "Artemis" can also be read as "''safe''" or "''butcher''".

* MyHovercraftIsFullOfEels: Much of the Russian cultural specific dialogue, phraes, and nuances were translated rather literally into English. this result in funny occasions when characters will ask if they have noodles on their ears.
* NervesOfSteel: [[spoiler: Dark Ones can only communicate with humans via telepathy, that's why they follow and try to protect Artyom, as he is the first person to actually communicate with them in any way and survive. Everybody else was reduced into a drooling retard and died soon after, as seen in the Exhibition's hospital.]] This protection is percieved as a gift, pure badassity or some kind of a natural immunity to anomalies by Artyom's companions.

** Special points go to a scene near the end. Artyom thinks he can hear an underground river and opens a maintainance door at the side of the tunnel to take a look at a tunnel running paralell to the one he was in. Then, in the darkness, a huge, train-like gray ''thing'' rushes past along the tracks, with enough force and pressure to make his ears hurt and pop. He wisely slams the door shut. Any more than that, we're never told. It's ''implied'' that it was [[spoiler: the monstrous worm god that the cannibalistic cultist were praying to. The confession that their high priest made ten minutes earlier that he had made the god up all on his own for no reason than to get control over the savages does ''NOT'' help to calm you down. One wonders what else lurks there...]]

** Metro 2034 book states that the garrison unit of the Sevastopolskaya station regularly receives small batches of cucumbers, potatoes and tomatoes for soldiers, albeit sickly looking and wilted (As well as copious amounts of ammunition, weapons and medical supplies). [[spoiler:Justified since this exact station provides a significant amount of electricity for those who can pay for it and is constantly under the siedge of mutants from the surface. None of the access tunnels can be blocked due to the need of frequent maintenance of hydroelectric generators near underground rivers. An attempt to clean out adjacent station and close the airlocks failed due to something that killed a group of grizzled professionals and left no trace of their bodies or equipment. Radio operator only heard one of the soldiers chanting a simple kiddie prayer before all communication was lost.]]
* PracticalCurrency: Bullets are used as currency. Practical, but it unfortunately means that combat [[AbnormalAmmo involves shooting money]].

* PromotedFanboy: Everybody can potentially become one, for Dmitry Glukhovsky has created the ''Metro 2033 Universe'' project, so anybody can submit their novel set in the Metro (not limited to Moscow anymore - the most popular ones not written by Dmitry himself are sent in Petersburg) and if Dmitry accepts it, it is then released in Russia and becomes canon. However, due to the series' unexceptional popularity, few works become known outside Russia.
* PutOnABus: [[spoiler: Artyom in Metro 2034. Melnik mentions him in passage… The Artyom we see in that book is another one.]]
* RagnarokProofing: Massively averted. Survivors live in squalid conditions and metro is a maze of crumpled concrete and rusty pipes. Even most firearms are improvised and only few can afford a still operating prewar automatic weapon. This is only 20 years AfterTheEnd.

* SurvivorGuilt: [[spoiler: Artyom all the time, but specially with Oleg's death.]]
* TactfulTranslation: Very much averted with the sections dealing with Mat (Crude Russian dialect which is pretty much nonstop swearing), giving us moments where characters will suddenly say "Fuck you!" for no obvious reason.

* BluntMetaphorsTrauma: The guy who did the English translation got the literal vocabulary and most of the syntax right, but much of the cultural translation is done rather poorly.

* AnthropicPrinciple: {{Discussed}} in the second half of chapter 11. Artyom states that storybooks are nothing like real life, [[PlotWhatPlot in that everything happens randomly.]] One of the [[spoiler: hallucinatory]] two guys in the station states that if you know what you're doing, events can be made to happen in a logical fashion. re-visited mid-way through chapter 19.

* AnyoneCanDie

* ArmorPiercingQuestion: "What does [[belief system ''Du Jour'']] say about headless mutants?" (Two-headed mutants in the video game)

* ArmorPiercingQuestion: "What does [belief system ''Du Jour''] say about headless mutants?" (Two-headed mutants in the video game)

* ThoseWackyNazis: The Russian Nazis are an unfortunate {{Truth in Television}}. Present Day Russia has one of the largest concentrations of Neo-Nazi groups, focusing on Russian ultranationalism instead of German ultranationalism. They still retain the Swastika and the "stylistic" elements of Nazis. Chalk it up to Russian irony why Russians would recreate the one ideology they were instrumental in wiping out.

* BrownNote: During any excursion onto [[DeathWorld the surface]], one rule above all prevails: ''Don't look at the Kremlin''.[[hottip:*:The abovementioned BlobMonster resides in its depths and, ''somehow'', catching a glimpse of the Kremlin from anywhere in Moscow is enough to make you think mindlessly treking into the Kremlin basement is a good idea]]

* AfterTheEnd: Like, ''The'' End. Apparently, ''[[UpTo11 even the afterlife got blown up.]]''

** When asked of a Lenninist Commissar, it results in him thinking carefully about his answer. When asked of a Christian minister, people [[WhatTheHellHero give Artyom horrified looks.]]

* TheCloudCuckooLanderWasRight: Khan is a very... odd man, believing he's the reincarnation of Genghis Khan, and being the source of most of our info on how ''wrong'' the Metro is. A lot of the things he says sound crazy, but he's probably right.

In 2010, the Ukrainian game developer 4A Games created a loose VideoGame adaptation of the novel, eponymously named ''{{VideoGame/Metro2033}}''. Much like the original novel, the game has also received a sequel.

In 2010, the Ukrainian game developer 4A created a loose VideoGame adaptation of the novel, eponymously named ''{{VideoGame/Metro2033}}''. Much like the original novel, the game has also received a sequel.

In 2010, [[{{VideoGame/Metro2033}} a video game with the same name]] was released, based on the novel.

* AnthropicPrinciple: {{Discussed}} in the second half of chapter 11. Artyom states that storybooks are nothing like real life, [[PlotWhatPlot in that everything happens randomly.]] One of the [[spoiler: hallucinatory]] two guys in the station states that if you know what you're doing, events can be made to happen in a logical fashion.

* ArmorPiercingQuestion: "What does [belief system ''Du Jour''] say about headless mutants?"

* AnthropicPrinciple: {{Discussed}} in the second half of chapter 11. Artyom states that storybooks are nothing like real life, in that everything happens randomly. One of the [[spoiler: hallucinatory]] two guys in the station states that if you know what you're doing, events can be made to happen in a logical fashion.

* AscendedFanboy: Everybody can potentially become one, for Dmitry Glukhovsky has created the ''Metro 2033 Universe'' project, so anybody can submit their novel set in the Metro (not limited to Moscow anymore - the most popular ones not written by Dmitry himself are sent in Petersburg) and if Dmitry accepts it, it is then released in Russia and becomes canon. However, due to the series' unexceptional popularity, few works become known outside Russia.