History Literature / TheCaseOfCharlesDexterWard

* VillainsBlendInBetter: Their use of low profiles allows Curwen's associates Orne and Hutchinson stay under the radar far better than Curwen, to the point of [[TheSlowPath successfully keeping it up into the modern day]].
** [[spoiler: [[InvertedTrope Inverted]] with #118 who despite coming from further back in time than Curwen without a descendant to ease thing for them and apparently no knowledge of modern English managed to [[OffscreenMomentOfAwesome locate the other two necromancers, cross the Atlantic and kill them both]].]]

* ReallySevenHundredYearsOld: One benefit of Curwen and associate's unnatural studies is an almost total cessation of the aging process. Curwen himself lives for over a full century while still appearing to be a man in his thirties at the latest, only meeting his [[spoiler:first]] death in combat against the Pawtucket raiders. Meanwhile Orne and Hutchinson have managed to survive into the time of Charles Dexter Ward, over a century and a half later, by means of various cover identities.

* GodIsEvil: Curwen's "ancient ally" isn't explicitly named, but the incantation to summon him goes "PER ADONAI ELOHIM, ADONAI JEHOVA, ADONAI SABAOTH, METATRON..." [[spoiler:However, there's a further implication that the necromancers believe ''Yog-Sothoth'' is in fact the God of the Bible.]]

A RadioDrama adaptation of the story started airing on [[Creator/TheBBC BBC Radio 4]] in December of 2018. Directed by Julian Simpson, this version is loosely connected to several of his other works, collectively known as the "''Radio/PleasantGreenUniverse''". Set in the PresentDay, it centers around a team of podcasters, known as 'The Mystery Machine', investigating the disappearance of young Charles Ward from his cell at the asylum in Providence, Rohde Island. Things, inevitably, go wrong from there.

** It's never revealed just who [[spoiler: the entity Dr. Willett accidentally summons, #118,]] is[[note]]based on the clues provided, Merlin is a popular guess[[/note]], but [[spoiler: he hates Curwen and compatriots enough to hunt down the other two and arrange their deaths]]. Also unrevealed, though tantalizingly hinted, is the [[spoiler:the corpse Curwen disinters whose identity would cause patriotic shock and outrage if the crime was discovered, [[Creator/BenjaminFranklin and his initials are B.F.]] ]]

* TheUnreveal: Several details are left mysterious and unrevealed. In particular, it's never revealed just who [[spoiler: the entity Dr. Willett accidentally summons, #118,]] is[[note]]based on the clues provided, Merlin is a popular guess[[/note]], but [[spoiler: he hates Curwen and compatriots enough to hunt down the other two and arrange their deaths]]. Also unrevealed, though tantalizingly hinted, is the [[spoiler:the corpse Curwen disinters whose identity would cause patriotic shock and outrage if the crime was discovered, [[Creator/BenjaminFranklin and his initials are B.F.]] ]]
** In a 2012 comic adaptation, [[spoiler:the entity Dr. Willett accidentally summons is [[MirroredConfrontationShot almost identical to Dr. Willett himself]] ]]

* AuthorAvatar: Charles is an awkward and eccentric antiquarian, and even bits of his physical description matches Lovecraft himself.

* TheVerse: When visiting Curwen's farmhouse in the 18th century, John Merritt finds the ''Necronomicon'' in Curwen's possession, which reminds him of "the exposure of nameless rites at the strange little fishing village of Kingsport, in the Province of the Massachusetts-Bay," referring obliquely to the events narrated in ''The Festival''. Much later, in 1928, when investigating Curwen's subterranean lair, Dr. Willett notices the Sign of Koth chiselled above a doorway, and remembers his friend Randolph Carter drawing the sign and explaining its powers and meaning.

* TheVerse: When visiting Curwen's farmhouse in the 18th century, John Merritt finds the ''Necronomicon'' in Curwen's possession, which reminds him of "the exposure of nameless rites at the strange little fishing village of Kingsport, in the Province of the Massachusetts-Bay," referring obliquely to the events narrated in ''The Festival''. Much later, in 1928, when investigating Curwen's subterranean lair, Dr. Willett notices the Sign of Koth chiselled above a doorway, and remembers his friend Randolph Carter drawing the sign and explaining its powers and meaning.

* TheVerse: When visiting Curwen's farmhouse in the 18th century, John Merritt finds the ''Necronomicon'' in Curwen's possession, which reminds him of "the exposure of nameless rites at the strange little fishing village of Kingsport, in the Province of the Massachusetts-Bay," referring obliquely to the events narrated in ''The Festival''.