History DarthWiki / BrotherWolf

* NorseMythology - Aside from the deities being based on Norse gods, the character in the second of the two folk stories is renamed [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garmr Garm]], after the hound which guards the gates of Hel. Garm is destroyed during Ragnorok [[spoiler:which parallels Alyosha's death during the civil war of later books]].

* BigBadassWolf - Woolf and Dobrovolsky both have trouble controlling their tempers. Woolf, living in a rougher, dirtier world openly fights with the paupers. Dobrovolsky has to learn - with the help of Trowes and Keaton, and the sensory deprivation "tranquilising" techniques used at Osbourne - to master his own fits of rage. Both nearly lose their positions in society because of their openness about their conditions.

* NamesToRunAwayFrom - by the end of the book, virtually anyone with an animal name is suspect - and that goes double for anyone named after a predator.

** [[IncrediblyLamePun Shackle]][[{{Lampshaded}} ton]]. Yes, the clue is in the name, mentioned in the conversation Falls has with his nurse about Piech's own name [[spoiler:which is a little too close for the Salvat word for dog, ''pies'', for comfort]]. And no, it doesn't refer to his imprisonment in Ozzie.

* PsychoPsychologist - the edifices established in ''{{DarthWiki/Ludlin}}'' are somewhat demolished. Despite being played straight in the first book, this trope is averted with Herbert Keaton. Unlike Falls, he knows what he's doing not to be so rabid about his investigations. Seymour thinks he's soft on his patients, which isn't saying that much, but it's true that because of the small capacity of Osbourne House, he works hard to keep the workhouses from committing all but the most insane of patients. He cares, in his pseudo-Victorian way, about the welfare of his patients and their ability not just to enter Ozzie's care but also leave it. [[spoiler:In the case of Alice Gander, though, he - or possibly another Osbourne House doctor - showed little mercy.]] He has the good grace to feel sorry for [[IncrediblyLamePun Shackleton (think about it)]], who compounded his condition with depression and drug abuse until he had to be committed permanently.

* EverythingsWorseWithBears - Medvedev has scared the Empire out of its collective reason. After [[spoiler:the Shackleton affair]], even a man named Hase - hare - commits suicide after people realise what is going on with people with animal names.

* RefugeInVulgarity - like most novels or media set in institutions, the vulgar bits are played up to the author's heart's content. It's a staple of the genre - even master of the genre AleksandrSolzhenitsyn's novels weren't immune.

Novel by {{Tropers/Crowqueen}}, part of ''{{DarthWiki/The Nine Lives of Michal Piech}}'' and the second of three books detailing Michal's life at the Lowe Road workhouse - and now elsewhere. Named after a Russian fairy tale, ''[[http://russian-crafts.com/tales/fox_wolf.html Sister Fox and Brother Wolf]]'' (warning - poor English rendering), and incorporating plot based on the Marie de France lay of ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bisclavret Bisclavret]]'' and several of Aesop's fables. The later novel ''{{DarthWiki/Giedre}}'' is subtitled ''Sister Fox''.

A ten-panel cartoon version appeared in the magazine of the Basingstoke sci-fi club Genesis. It is a summary of a distorted version of the novel where [[spoiler:Alexei dies]]. The tropes specific to this cartoon are in a section on their own.

* XanatosGambit - [[spoiler:Although Seymour's original plan for Alexei fails, he still gains a loyal supporter and patron, and the respect and friendship of two powerful trade families.]]

* XanatosRoulette - in-universe example. Seymour ''knows'' he is leaving a lot of elements in his plan to get rid of Alyosha to chance. But the way his mind works, and his success with Michal out of sheer opportunism, is making him greedy enough to at least try.
* XanatosSpeedChess - some of Seymour's plans depend on him spotting an opportunity and taking it, and moving on to the next avenue once one is closed off.

* DreamingTheTruth - Carrie has a dream about [[spoiler:a wolf, leading Greta to subtly spin it towards identifying Alexei's secret.]]

* NurseRatched - Grainger, notorious for his treatment of Shackleton and threatened periodically with disciplinary action by Keaton, [[spoiler:eventually gets his hands on Alexei]]...

* TheNurseRatched - Grainger, notorious for his treatment of Shackleton and threatened periodically with disciplinary action by Keaton, [[spoiler:eventually gets his hands on Alexei]]...

* NurseRatchet - Grainger, notorious for his treatment of Shackleton and threatened periodically with disciplinary action by Keaton, [[spoiler:eventually gets his hands on Alexei]]...

* DepravedHomosexual - Ellis. Some of the things Yuri talks about in the first scene are pretty lurid, and he's no shrinking violet either. It's not altogether certain that it happened quite like that, but Ellis, [[AnythingThatMoves bisexual to the last]], doesn't deny it either. [[spoiler:The climax happens because Michal turns down Yuri's offensive advances.]] Averted with Silnov; it is an incidental part of his character, but it's implied when Mlynarczyk is talking to Michal [[spoiler:[[BiTheWay who]] admits to feelings for Tyne after his death]] that this element has been used by the press to question the liberal attitudes toward it as evidenced by the supposedly heinous crimes committed by "homosexual" Boris Silnov.

** ''The snips'' - a haircut. [[IfYouKnowWhatIMean Not that kind of snip.]]

* AMinorKidroduction - Ladziukas' plot thread begins by showing him actually contract BrainFever; then there is a twenty-year TimeSkip to where he is in the asylum.