History Literature / HemlockGrove

* SuperOCD: Roman can't step on sidewalk cracks, is terrified of prime numbers, always unties knots, and can't sleep unless he knows that every drawer and cupboard in his mansion is closed. At one point he holds up a checkout line at Wal-Mart "blinking back tears of desperation" because he needs to get exact change from the cashier.

* %% *"I'm a novelist."
* %% *"SHEE-it."

* %% *[[KissingCousins Peter and Destiny]] are also quite flirty with one another.

* %% *Chasseur and the rest of her Order.

* %% *Roman could only stare while Peter and [[spoiler: Christina]] fought.
* %% *Peter was completely still when they found out [[spoiler: Letha had died.]]

* %% *The cruel schoolkids who harass and mock Peter, Roman, and especially Shelley.
* %% *[[spoiler: Christina,]] literally.

%% *AnAxeToGrind: Olivia's gift to Roman.

%% *CruelAndUnusualDeath: All of the vargulf's victims were disemboweled and torn in half.

* DudeShesLikeInAComa: Ironically enough, it isn't about Roman. [[spoiler:Christina]] planted one on [[spoiler:Peter]] while he was asleep.
%% *EatenAlive: The vargulf's victims; it avoids vital organs, only eating body fat to prolong the terror.

%% *IncestIsRelative: Roman and [[spoiler: Letha]].

* AbandonedWarehouse: The abandoned Godfrey Steel Mill is an important location.
* AdultFear: Since all of the victims were high school girls, everyone with a child was appropriately worried.
* TheAlcoholic: Chasseur had been so before and gotten sober, but the stress of the vargulf's attacks had driven her back to her old ways.
* AlwaysIdenticalTwins: Alexa and Alyssa Sworn.
* AnAxeToGrind: Olivia's gift to Roman.
* AngryMob: Towards the end of the season, the town is whipped into a frenzy against Peter.
* AnyoneCanDie:
* ArcWords: "Today I have seen the dragon."
* AutoCannibalism: Werewolves eat the flesh and skin they lose after turning.
* BatmanGambit: [[spoiler: When Olivia reveals the truth about their family's powers to him, Roman chooses to kill himself rather than complete the transformation into a full Upir... But this is exactly what CAUSES the transformation and exactly what Olivia planned.]]
* BedlamHouse: Averted in the case of Norman's hospital, although patients can still meet grisly ends.
* BeefBandage: Peter has one after bullies beat the crap out of him.
* BigLittleBrother: Sister, actually.
* BloodLust: Both Roman and Olivia seems to have this.
* BloodMagic: [[spoiler: The cat's unfortunate fate.]]
* BodyHorror: A large part of Peter's transformation scene.
* BreakTheCutie: Christina, Peter, Shelley. Roman is more of a BreakTheHaughty type until after his coma.
* CanisMajor: The vargulf is described as being at eye level to its (standing, human) victims and is at least three times the size of a normal wolf.
* {{Catchphrase}}
** "I'm a novelist."
** "SHEE-it."
* ConvenientComa: Roman is in one for a while.
* CoolCar: J.R.'s and later Roman's car.
* CrazyJealousGuy: ''Roman'' over ''Letha''.
* CreepyChild: Christina.
* CruelAndUnusualDeath: All of the vargulf's victims were disemboweled and torn in half.
* CutHimselfShaving: Quoted by Roman, although it really did look like a shaving cut. [[SherlockScan Chasseur]] sees right through it.
* CuteAndPsycho: [[spoiler:Christina.]]
* CuteMute: Shelley.
* DeadpanSnarker: Peter.
* DeathByChildbirth: [[spoiler:Letha.]]
* DeathOfAChild:
** [[spoiler:Shelley dies in infancy and is resurrected/reconstructed.]]
** [[spoiler:Even Peter's cat wasn't safe from death. He's forced to kill his pet in order to speak to his dead grandfather for advice on how to kill the vargulf.]]
* DidNotGetTheGirl: [[spoiler:Letha dies when giving birth to her baby, thereby ending the relationship between Peter and Letha for good]].
* DisappearedDad: Neither Peter nor Roman have a father. [[spoiler: Except Norman is Roman's father, and has been largely serving in a version of that role for him and his sister.]]
* DiseaseBleach: Christina's hair gradually goes white after her encounter with the vargulf's victim. Unrealistically portrayed [[spoiler: unless losing her hair color was her price for turning against the moon.]]
* DisposableWoman: The vargulf targets young women. See MenAreTheExpendableGender below.
* DrivenToSuicide: J.R. Godfrey.
* DudeShesLikeInAComa: Ironically enough, it isn't about Roman. [[spoiler:Christina]] planted one on [[spoiler:Peter]] while he was asleep.
* EatenAlive: The vargulf's victims; it avoids vital organs, only eating body fat to prolong the terror.
* EvilAllAlong: [[spoiler: Christina.]]
* EvilMatriarch: Roman's mother is very much on of these.
* FacialHorror: Peter wasn't kidding when he said [[spoiler: he had to sacrifice his human face.]]
* {{Foil}}: The Rumanceks and the Godfreys, both mothers and sons.
* FriendlessBackground: Neither Roman nor Peter had friends before they met each other.
* FunctionalAddict: Roman smokes, drinks, snorts cocaine, self-mutilates and still manages to make it through the day until he flies off the handle and ends up in a coma.
* GoryDiscretionShot: Most of the deaths happen off screen.
* GraveRobbing: Done by the boys to get material for Destiny.
* HandsOffParenting / HippieParents: Many young characters have one or a mix of these.
* HarmfulToMinors: Peter had to [[spoiler: slice off his dead grandfather's head with a sword]] and Roman saw his father's corpse on the living room floor.
* HealingFactor: Only happens when a werewolf has to basically regenerate their entire body. Otherwise, they heal and feel pain just like normal people do.
* HeroicBSOD: Several characters fall into this after loved ones die.
* HowlOfSorrow: Quite a few.
* ImportantHaircut: Peter in the finale.
* IncestIsRelative: Roman and [[spoiler: Letha]].
* IncestSubtext: Olivia's a little ''too'' touchy-feely with her son, Roman.
** [[KissingCousins Peter and Destiny]] are also quite flirty with one another.
* JediMindTrick: In the novel, Roman uses something similar (the ''extaz'') to influence people and get himself out of trouble. Olivia, too.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Roman, pre-coma.
* KarmaHoudini: Roman [[spoiler: snapped and raped a girl]] but because of his ability, nobody ever found out about it.
* KickTheDog: [[spoiler: From Christina]] to Chief Tom Sworn, when both [[spoiler: Alexa and Alyssa]] are both mutilated/murdered horribly by the vargulf, considering Chief Tom Sworn was always so kind to the murderer.
* KillTheCutie: Several times, but [[spoiler: Letha]] stands out as the most prominent example.
* KissingCousins: Implied in the novel and the show. [[spoiler:Until it's revealed that Roman and Letha are [[BrotherSisterIncest half-siblings]] and that Roman is the father of Letha's baby]].
* KnightTemplar:
** Chasseur and the rest of her Order.
** Sheriff Sworn becomes this after [[spoiler: his daughters are killed.]]
* LackOfEmpathy: Olivia from the very beginning. [[spoiler: Christina, too.]]
* LonelyRichKid: Roman. Shelley also could count.
* MeaningfulName:
** Destiny: Can tell the future.
** Peter the Werewolf calls to mind "Peter and the Wolf".
** Shelley [[spoiler:seems to reference Mary Shelley, since Shelley the child is a Frankenstein's Monster-like resurrection/creation of Olivia's dead daughter.]]
** The last name Rumancek translates to "Chamomile". There's a particular kind of chamomile known as Roman Chamomile. This implies that there's some sort of familial relationship between the Rumancek and Godfrey families. [[spoiler:It's confirmed in the novel that Roman's mother Olivia gave birth to a child that was given to the Rumanceks to raise.]]
** Letha is in Greek mythology, [[spoiler: "The river of forgetfulness, one of the five rivers in Hades." and "A condition of forgetfulness; oblivion."]]
** GOD-frey, just as Norman's wife says, "Godfreys get what they want" when asked how she and Norman got together.
** Chasseur means "hunter" in French.
** The man who claims to have died and been brought back to life is named [[Film/TheSerpentAndTheRainbow Pullman.]]
* MenAreTheExpendableGender: Inverted. [[spoiler:There are only two male characters that die, ''and JR's death happens in a flashback''.]]
* MercyKill: Averted:
** In a flashback, Peter finds a group of upirs torturing a dying fox but is too terrified to put it out of its misery.
** [[spoiler: Roman gets a few chances to kill Christina cleanly before she transforms, but can't bring himself to do it.]]
* {{Motifs}}: "You must make your heart steel/become stronger", Olivia ONLY wears white (Letha also wears white a lot)
* MindManipulation: Roman can't read minds, but he can implant suggestions and make people forget recent events.
* MisunderstoodLonerWithAHeartOfGold: Shelley is treated like shit by the kids at school but is as kind as she is quiet.
* MyBelovedSmother: Olivia's on the completely disturbing end of the scale.
* MysticalPregnancy: Letha.
* NightmareFetishist: Christina. [[spoiler: She turned herself into a werewolf so she could "have experiences."]]
* NippleAndDimed: Hugely averted.
* NoPreggerSex: Averted when [[spoiler: Peter and Letha]] hook up.
* OfCorsetsSexy: Norman once tightened Olivia's corset after a routine hookup.
* OddFriendship: Roman and Peter.
* OlderThanTheyLook: Olivia was a child a ''very'' long time ago.
* OnlySaneMan: Peter.
* OurWerewolvesAreDifferent: Peter's grandfather was the [[MagicalSeventhSon seventh son of a seventh son]], meaning Peter is a werewolf [[Analysis/OurWerewolvesAreDifferent through heredity]].
** [[spoiler:Christina became a werewolf by choice and through drinking water from Peter's paw print.]]
* OurVampiresAreDifferent: Based on Slavic mythology the Upir are immortals indistinguishable from humans.
** Being Upir is genetic but ultimate transformation seems to be triggered by [[spoiler:a successful suicide and then feeding on someone]].
* PanickyExpectantFather: Roman and Peter aren't exactly anxious, but cigars are involved.
* PapaWolf: Norman is one to Letha.
* PainfulTransformation: Going from human to werewolf is not a pleasant sequence.
* PoliceBrutality: Sheriff Sworn shot [[spoiler: Shelley]] twice from behind with no warning.
* PoliceAreUseless: Naturally.
* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: While less common in America than in Eastern Europe, Olivia has strong opinions against the Romani.
* UsefulNotes/{{Romani}}: Peter and his family.
* RustproofBlood: Averted in the book.
* ScarilyCompetentTracker: Chasseur.
* SelfHarm: Roman is shown cutting himself with a razor blade several times. In his case, it starts because he likes blood.
* SesquipedalianLoquaciousness: The way Shelley's emails seem. In this case it is unlikely that the character is trying to show off or be perceived as unusually smart, rather she's taking full advantage of the medium of writing to communicate in a way that is normally impossible for her because of her muteness.
* ShellShockSilence:
** Roman could only stare while Peter and [[spoiler: Christina]] fought.
** Peter was completely still when they found out [[spoiler: Letha had died.]]
* SherlockScan: Chasseur does this to Roman, though she keeps her conclusions to herself.
* ShootTheDog: What Peter had to do to [[spoiler: his cat.]]
* SilentScapegoat: [[spoiler:Shelley.]]
* SmokingIsCool / SmokingIsGlamorous: There are more characters that smoke than there are that don't. Roman practically goes through a pack per scene.
* SnobsVersusSlobs: Roman and Peter's families.
* StalkerWithACrush: [[spoiler: Christina kisses Peter in his sleep, becomes a werewolf to be closer to him, and even leaves him the "bigger half" of her kills. How...thoughtful.]]
* SuperOCD: Roman can't step on sidewalk cracks, is terrified of prime numbers, always unties knots, and can't sleep unless he knows that every drawer and cupboard in his mansion is closed. At one point he holds up a checkout line at Wal-Mart "blinking back tears of desperation" because he needs to get exact change from the cashier.
* SuperStrength: Dr. Pryce, as induced by overactive adrenal glands. [[spoiler: He ''broke out of his incubator'' as a premature infant.]]
* TallDarkAndHandsome: Roman. This is lampshaded by Destiny.
* TeensAreMonsters:
** The cruel schoolkids who harass and mock Peter, Roman, and especially Shelley.
** [[spoiler: Christina,]] literally.
* ThemeTwinNaming: Alyssa and Alexa.
* ThereAreNoPsychologists: Somewhat subverted; Norman is a successful and empathetic doctor. However, all the patients we've seen him personally treat have ended up dead. He sleeps with Olivia for the first time when she visits him professionally, too.
* TransformationSequence: Werewolves have extremely gruesome ones.
* TroubledFetalPosition: Poor Roman.
* TrueCompanions: Roman and Peter. They do have their fights, but will pull through for each other.
* TwoferTokenMinority: Chasseur is both black and a lesbian.
* WouldHurtAChild: The Order.

* InfantImmortality: Averted.
** [[spoiler:Shelley dies in infancy and is resurrected/reconstructed.]]
** [[spoiler:Even Peter's cat wasn't safe from death. He's forced to kill his pet in order to speak to his dead grandfather for advice on how to kill the vargulf.]]

* YourCheatingHeart: Olivia and Norman have been cheating with each other for years. J.R. was well aware of it before he shot himself.

* HealingFactor: Only happens when a werewolf has to basically regenerate his or her entire body. Otherwise, they heal and feel pain just like normal people do.

* GreenEyes: Members of the Godfrey family have green eyes.

The book contains the following tropes:

* TeensAreMonsters: The cruel schoolkids who harass and mock Peter, Roman, and especially Shelley.

* AlwaysIdenticalTwins: Nope, Alexa and Alyssa Sworn are fraternal, but not exempt from FinishingEachOthersSentences and SpeakInUnison on occasion.

* AnyoneCanDie: Averted up until "What God Wants."
* ArcWords: "I have seen the dragon."

* [[spoiler: BackForTheDead]] [[spoiler: Christina returns briefly in season 2, albeit only in Vargulf form, and is quickly dispatched once again by Shelley.]]

* BedlamHouse: Averted in the case of Norman's hospital, although patients can still meet grizzly ends.

* CreepyChild: Christina in the later episodes.
* CruelAndUnusualDeath: All of the vargulf's victims were disemboweled and torn apart [[GroinAttack "snatch-first"]].
* CutHimselfShaving: Quoted by Roman, although it really did look like a shaving cut.

* DiedInYourArmsTonight: [[spoiler:Unlike her sister, Alyssa Sworn spent her last seconds being held by her father.]]
* DisappearedDad: Neither Peter nor Roman have a father. [[spoiler: Except Norman is Roman's father, and has been largely serving in a version of that role for him and his sister throughout the series.]]
* DiseaseBleach: Though not very realistically portrayed.
* DisposableWoman: See MenAreTheExpendableGender below.
* DisposableVagrant: [[spoiler: Under the influence of his Upir bloodlust, Roman helps himself to one in season 2.]] Subverted when [[spoiler: he quickly finds himself surrounded by the other inhabitants of the homeless camp and only escapes by throwing all his money at them, making them [[GoldFever forget about both friend and attacker alike.]]]]

* DullSurprise: In spades.
* EatenAlive: The vargulf's victims.

* EyeScream: A part of Peter's transformation involves his eyes falling out of their sockets.

* FunctionalAddict: Olivia uses some sort of drug in the form of eye-drops and is fine unless she doesn't have them. Roman smokes, drinks, snorts cocaine, self-mutilates and still manages to make it through the day until he flies off the handle and ends up in a coma.
* {{Ghostapo}}: A flashback reveals [[spoiler: an Upir]] leading a squadron of Nazi soldiers.
* GoryDiscretionShot: Most of the deaths happen off screen, or are shot in such a way so that we don't see things.
* GraveRobbing: Done by two conflicting groups with the same grave on the same night.

** [[spoiler:Olivia killed her first daughter, Juliette. It's very likely she also killed Shelley but J.R. had her resurrected.]]
** [[spoiler:Not only Juliette. When showing the murder of Juliette, it clearly states there were more than one. "Juliette and many like her came, all of them disappointments." There were more babies, and more murders, until she had the child with the caul.]]

* JediMindTrick: In the novel, Roman uses something similar to influence people and get himself out of trouble. Works in the TV show, too.

* JoggersFindDeath: In the pilot, a jogger finds the dead and raped girl.

** [[spoiler: Christina,]] the vargulf, is defeated and given a pleasent burial by the Sheriff, but [[spoiler: Shelley]] is shot and flees town to who knows where.
** [[spoiler: Olivia]] in the second season finale.
* KickTheDog: [[spoiler: From Christina]] to Chief Tom Sworn, when both [[spoiler: Alexa and Alyssa]] are both mutilated/murdered horribly by the vargulf, considering Chief Tom Sworn was always so kind to the murderer. Made worse when later [[spoiler: Christina is killed, but is possibly alive, as she screams from in the grave]] even though she was the killer, he didn't know that and he saw her as a daughter.

* MalevolentMaskedMen: A murderous gang of them set up shop in Hemlock Grove in season 2. They also appear to [[spoiler: Roman and Peter in their dreams.]] These sequences are possibly intended to [[ShoutOut resemble]] the films of [[WebVideo/MarbleHornets ToTheArk.]]

* MenAreTheExpendableGender: Inverted. [[spoiler:There are only two male characters that die in Season 1, ''and JR's death happens in a flashback''.]]
* MercyKill: [[spoiler:Pryce is forced to suffocate Dr. Chasseur after Olivia broke her neck and skinned her alive]].

* MysticalPregnancy: Letha. Miranda doesn't get pregnant, but being around baby Nadia causes her to lactate.
* NightmareFetishist: Christina. [[spoiler: She likened the sensation of a transformation arising to an orgasm and turned herself into a werewolf so she could "have experiences."]]

* NoBisexuals: Jury's out with Destiny; she's more than happy to have sex with anyone as long as there's cash involved, but she seemed to really enjoy her time with [[spoiler: Chasseur]]. She gets a new boyfriend in Andre in the second season.

* PsychicNosebleed: Roman.

* RustproofBlood: Played absurdly straight.
* ScareChord: Used early and often.

* SelfHarm: Roman is shown cutting himself with a razor blade several times. In his case, it probably starts because he likes blood.
* SesquipedalianLoquaciousness: The way Shelley's emails seem. In this case it is unlikely that the character is trying to show off or be perceived as unusually smart, rather she's taking full advantage of the medium of writing to communicate in a way that is normally impossible for her because of her muteness. As such, it's not annoying from a character standpoint, but still comes across as the writers trying too hard to make her seem intelligent and sophisticated.

* SuperStrength: Dr. Pryce, as induced by overactive adrenal glands.

* TongueTrauma: [[spoiler: Roman bites Olivia's tongue out]]!

* WhiteMaskOfDoom: A recurring image in Season 2.
* TwoferTokenMinority: Chasseur is both black and a lesbian!

[[TeacherStudentRomance teacher]].]] Additionally, [[spoiler: one of the few main characters who die is Clementine Chasseur, whose introduction shows her in bed with another woman.]]

** The man who claims to have died and been brought back to life is named [[TheSerpentAndTheRainbow Pullman.]]

* MalevolentMaskedMen: A murderous gang of them set up shop in Hemlock Grove in season 2. They also appear to [[spoiler: Roman and Peter in their dreams.]] These sequences are possibly intended to [[ShoutOut resemble]] the films of [[MarbleHornets ToTheArk.]]

* MalevolentMaskedMen: A murderous gang of them set up shop in Hemlock Grove in season 2. They also appear to [[spoiler: Roman and Peter in their dreams.]] These sequences are possibly intended to [[ShoutOut resemble]] the films of [[MarbleHornets ToTheArk.]]

* ScaryMaskedMen: A murderous gang of them set up shop in Hemlock Grove in season 2. They also appear to [[spoiler: Roman and Peter in their dreams.]] These sequences are possibly intended to [[ShoutOut resemble]] the films of [[MarbleHornets ToTheArk.]]

* DisposableVagrant: [[spoiler: Under the influence of his Upir bloodlust, Roman helps himself to one in season 2.]] Subverted when [[spoiler: he quickly finds himself surrounded by the other inhabitants of the homeless camp and only escapes by throwing all his money at them, making them [[GoldFever: forget about both friend and attacker alike.]]]]

* Ghostapo: A flashback reveals [[spoiler: an Upir]] leading a squadron of Nazi soldiers.

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Hemlock_Grove_4457.jpg]]

* BuryYourGays: The very first person to die in the TV series is [[spoiler: a teenage girl who is on her way to a liaison with her female [[TeacherStudentRomance teacher]].]] Additionally, [[spoiler: one of the few main characters who die is Clementine Chasseur, whose introduction shows her in bed with another woman.]]
* CaliforniaDoubling: the novel is set in Pennsylvania, USA. The show is filmed in Ontario, Canada.

** "SHEE-it."
* ConspicuousCGI: Transformation scenes and Shelley's eye.
* ConvenientComa: Roman is in one for a few episodes. It also occurs in the novel.

* CoordinatedClothes: While the Sworn girls don't wear the exact same outfits, they usually have the same theme with color variations.

* MrFanservice: A big audience of the show comes for the eye-candy that [[http://images5.fanpop.com/image/photos/25100000/Landon-Liboiron-landon-ryan-liboiron-25182831-2560-1918.jpg Landon Liboiron]] and [[http://www.gp.se/image_processor/1.332497.1268746184!/image/2901166507.jpg_gen/derivatives/full/2901166507.jpg?maxWidth=620 Bill Skarsgård]] provide as Peter and Roman, respectively.

* PeopleJars: [[spoiler: Revealed at the very last second of the season finale.]]