Line #12 Literature/DeadSpaceMartyr


1	[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Dead_Space_Martyr_Cover_870.jpg]]
2
3	''Dead Space: Martyr'' is a TieInNovel set in the ''Franchise/DeadSpace'' universe, written by [[Creator/BrianEvenson B.K. Evenson]]. It is a {{Prequel}} taking place long before the rest of the series, and reveals the history of Michael Altman, the head figure of the [[ChurchOfHappyology Church of Unitology]], and his discovery of the Black Marker, the first evidence of alien life.
4
5	The story is divided into three sections. The first section is about Altman and several other scientists discovering the Marker in the Gulf of Mexico, and their attempts to retrieve it as people start to hallucinate and lose their minds. In the second part the military comes in, kidnaps the scientists, including Altman, and threatens to kill them if they do not experiment on the Marker. In the final part, [[OurZombiesAreDifferent Necromorphs]] appear and invade the secret lab everyone is in, and Altman has to escape while dealing with the Necromorphs and the military.
6	----
7	!!Tropes ''Dead Space: Martyr'' has:
8
9	* AmbiguousSituation: While it seems likely the spirits are just employing ReversePsychology like the vision of Nicole in ''Dead Space 2'', there's some indication the Dead genuinely just want the Marker to be left alone in order to prevent Convergence. Michael dismisses this possibility as do the believers, treating the ghosts and Marker as one in the same.
10	** Less ambigous by the end, as when [[spoiler: Altman touches the marker, he concludes that the hallucinations were actually not from the marker but from some "other" force opposing it, trying to encourage humanity to leave it alone.]]
11	* AssholeVictim:
12	** It's hard to pity Dantec dying horribly by Hennessy's hand because he murdered quite a lot of people during the war on the Moon [[ItsAllAboutMe just to steal their oxygen and survive on his own]].
13	** [[spoiler:Krax is the only member of the main antagonist trio who does ''not'' get off scot-free, getting murdered by Markoff after becoming expendable and then mutating into the Brute.]]
14	* BadassBookworm: For an anthropologist Michael Altman is a very capable fighter, [[{{Foil}} not unlike Isaac Clarke]].
15	* TheBadGuyWins: [[spoiler:Markoff and Stevens kill Michael Altman and manipulate his earlier press conferences to make him look like a prophet spreading the "divine message" of the Marker, which leads to the founding of Unitology.]]
16	* BeliefMakesYouStupid: A DownplayedTrope example as the Marker is causing people to go insane. Nevertheless, every believer of Unitology is shown to be completely impervious to reality.
17	* TheBrute: Krax acts as this to Markoff. [[spoiler:Ironically, he is killed and his corpse is fused with two others to form the necromorph later known as the Brute.]]
18	* ChainsawGood: Partially [[{{Deconstruction}} deconstructed]]. Altman tries to use an old chainsaw to kill a necromorph, he experiences the usual kickback effect and almost dislocates his shoulder. However, he does manage to kill several Slashers beforehand with it, so it wasn’t a total waste.
19	* DownerEnding: From the last two pages of the final chapter and all through the epilogue, things just get worse and worse. [[spoiler:Altman escapes the sinking, necromorph-infested research facility only to be betrayed and nearly killed by another survivor. Then he's saved by the people he fought against, mentally broken by hallucinations he experiences in solitary confinement, finds out his girlfriend was murdered by his captors, finds out he will be used as a martyr to advance their goals, and finally fed to a necromorph made of the man who killed his girlfriend.]]
20	* EvenEvilHasStandards:
21	** Played straight with Tanner and Hennesey, since, despite working for Dredger Corp doing undercover operations that aren't quite legal, both have their reservations against going too far, especially Hennesey.
22	** [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]] with Tim, Tom and Terry. They're not above doing morally awful stuff, but they generally try to be professional, don't hurt others unless they're ordered to and Terry in particular expresses disgust when he's accused of murdering someone he didn't kill.
23	** Averted with the rest of the bad guys who have little if any moral reservations that are not motivated by pragmatism.
24	* ExtremeMeleeRevenge: How Hennesey kills Dantec after enduring a lot of abuse from him.
25	* FauxAffablyEvil: [[BigBad Markoff]], [[EvilGenius Stevens]] and [[TheBrute Krax]] are all jovial at times, yet unnecessarily ruthless. Look no further than [[spoiler: the ending, where they deliver a [[BreakThemByTalking breaking speech]] to Altman right before killing him.]]
26	* FedToTheBeast:[[spoiler: Altman is killed by the Krax Brute released into his cell at the end.]]
27	* GodIsEvil: Michael speculates humanity was created by the Markers via genetic manipulation.
28	* ItCanThink: A Particularly disturbing example with the Necromorph found on the beach by Chava, as it acknowledges his presence and even tries to ''smile'' at the boy before he runs off.
29	* ImprobableWeaponUser: [[spoiler:Just to mock him, Markoff arms Altman with a spoon. Altman sharpens it, making it a makeshift knife and uses it to fight against the Brute Necromorph Krax became. Despite his bravery, it doesn't end well for him.]]
30	* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler:Markoff and Stevens kill Michael Altman in a nightmare-inducingly cruel manner, and unless they appear in a future story, the bastards get away with it, presumably living the high life of having millions of deceived humans believing their every word.]] There's perhaps some satisfaction in the inner circle of Unitology being ''dead wrong'' about their beliefs but this doesn't come to roost until centuries later.
31	* MeatMoss: Following the Necromorph outbreak, massive lumps of alien meat start growing through the facility walls. These are also capable of absorbing people alive and whole, as [[spoiler:Showalter]] learns it the hard way.
32	* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: [[spoiler:By saving Harmon from the sunken facility, Altman unknowingly helps the experiment data also survive and fall in the bad guys hands. Worse still, Harmon is the one who savagely knocks Altman out out of Marker-induced delusions and ensures Unitology will prosper]].
33	* NotQuiteTheRightThing: Michael Altman is frequently told by the visions he receives to leave the Marker alone but decides the best way to sabotage his employers' plans for it is to hold a press conference which announces the object's presence to the world. After that, there's no way to cover it up. [[spoiler:It backfires on him in the very worst way possible.]]
34	* OffWithHisHead: [[spoiler:James Field]] has his head torn off by a Divider during a Necromorph outbreak.
35	* PathOfInspiration: Unitology is created by the Marker influencing the minds of worshipers via its role in creating mankind as well as use of the dead to speak to people. Michael speculates the Marker is using the memories of the dead to communicate but this is oddly contradictory to its goals.
36	* PlayingBothSides: [[spoiler: Unitology was founded by a splinter faction in the Earth Government. Due to two hundred years of infiltration, most high-ranking members of the government are Unitologists. However, this is not known to lower-ranking members of either faction, and the two frequently clash.]]
37	* PhlebotinumKilledTheDinosaurs: Sorta. [[spoiler:The Black Marker landed on Earth along with the asteroid that killed off the dinosaurs.]]
38	* PsychicLink: The novel pretty much confirms that the Marker actively and intelligently tries to contain Necromorph outbreaks, and usually do this by creating hallucinations of dead loved ones. Although it is also proposed that the hallucinations are our brains' way of telling us that the Marker is bad news.
39	* SenselessSacrifice: [[spoiler: Michael sinks the Marker again but this does nothing to prevent the cult from digging it back up.]]
40	* StartOfDarkness: It turns out Michael wasn't nearly as "dark" a man as you'd be led to think. The Church, on the other hand...
41	* StopWorshippingMe: Michael Altman is made the Prophet of Unitology by the Marker despite the fact he considers the idea of it being divine ridiculous.
42	* TraumaCongaLine: Michael goes through one of these [[spoiler: which ends in his death.]]
43	* TooDumbToLive: While what Grote Guthe did can be partially justified as him being driven batty by sleep deprivation and Marker exposure, [[spoiler: unwittingly infecting himself with Necromorph bacteria while thinking that he was mainlining a sleep aid]], combined with the fact that he was irresponsibly playing around with the stuff shortly beforehand while ''knowing'' that his decision-making was no longer sound proved to be a very stupid thing to do. [[spoiler: As a result of his carelessness, he becomes PatientZero of an outbreak that would see the compound overrun and almost all of the personnel dead and infected in turn]]. And even if Guthe did manage to receive treatment [[spoiler: instead of being shot in the head by Krax]], he would need heavily invasive and life-threatening surgery that would result in him missing an arm and hooked up to life support machines for the rest of his days should he survive the procedure.
44	* WomenAreWiser: Ada is almost constantly portrayed as wiser than Altman since she understands the gravity of the situation better than him before the crap hits the fan, warns him constantly not to try to mess with the Dredger Corp ([[IgnoredExpert unsucessfully]]) and [[OnlySaneMan generally is more sensible than he is]]. Subverted when she [[spoiler: begins adoring the Black Marker]].
45	* WrittenByTheWinners: [[spoiler:Michael Altman gets this treatment in supplemental materials. In-universe he's portrayed as a visionary leader who believes that the Marker is the key to convergence, can end all conflict, and is capable of enlightening humanity. In truth, he wanted little to do with Unitology and simply wanted to let the scientific community study the Marker. His death also utilizes this trope, he is stated to have been assassinated by the Government to suppress the truth. This is a half-truth. He was indeed assassinated by Government agents, but only so they could use Unitology to jumpstart what they believed to be the next stage of human evolution which involves turning everyone into Necromorphs.]]
46	* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: Markoff is very fond of murdering people whom he claims "expendable". [[spoiler:Not even his own lackey Krax or Altman the main protagonist escape this fate.]]
47

Context Literature / DeadSpaceMartyr