History Literature / LetTheRightOneIn

* DoesNotLikeShoes: Eli goes barefoot at times where it wouldn't make sense for a normal human to do so.

* ProtagonistJourneyToVillain: The story is one for Oskar, [[AlternateCharacterInterpretation possibly.]] He's obsessed with serial killers, thinks about hurting or even killing his bullies, [[spoiler: has no problem with it when Eli ''does'' kill the bullies, and after the ending, well, he'll probably have to help her find food somehow...]]

* UndeadChild: Subverted. Eli insists he isn't ''technically'' undead.

* ViralTransformation: Vampirism is transmitted through the bite, and though it gives the person a HorrorHunger for blood it doesn't make them fundamentally evil. That said, it's bad enough most people are driven to suicide shortly after turning for fear of turning into murderers. Then there's what happens if they are completly drained but not fully killed which makes you more zombie than vampire.

* ViolentlyProtectiveGirlfriend: Eli takes this UpToEleven. [[spoiler:At the ending, she brutally massacres the gang of bullies trying to drown Oscar.]]

* YouAreWhatYouHate: Håkan is a physically unattractive man who laments the loss of beauty in the world. At one point, while stalking a swimming pool for potential victims, he observes two men in the changing rooms with derision and contempt, seeing them as examples of ugliness, but the descriptions he gives them also apply to himself almost verbatim. [[spoiler:His [[BodyHorror ultimate fate]] takes this UpToEleven.]]

** Lacke as well when he attempts to try to kill Eli and fails because she still looks like a child.

* DarkSecret: The audience knows that Eli is a vampire the entire time; Oskar finds out eventually. Stemming from this, Eli tries to hide the more gruesome aspects of her affliction from her new friend (such as what happens when she enters a house without permission, and what she does while sleeping/recuperating in the bathroom), but Oskar deals with each in turn. She also hides [[spoiler:her true gender]] for a while, but this is more because Eli isn't sure whether Oskar will still like her if he knows.

* DisproportionateRetribution: There is a sliding scale of this throughout the bullying plot. Jonny reguarly torments Oskar. When Jonny wanted to throw Oskar into an ice hole, Oskar hits him with a stick that splits his ear. At first Jonny backs off for a while, until he and his friend try to nearly throw Oskar into a path on an oncoming train. Oskar returns the favor by going to the school after dark and sets both of their desks on fire. Because Jonny kept one of the only items he and his brother had of their father in that desk, the two decide to possibly drown him.

** Early on, Eli tells Oskar that she'll take care of his bullies if he can't stand up to them on his own.

* NotSoDifferentRemark: Eli and Oskar have a conversation over this. Eli reminds Oskar the very first thing he/she heard say was Oskar rehearsing potentially murdering his bullies. Oskar defends by saying he actually isn't a murderer but Eli has him admit he would if he could in order to get even. Eli however sees it as he/she has to murder to survive as he/she wants to live. He/she asks him to "be me a little" in a both literal and metaphorical moment where she shows him memories of how this started. In the end both clearly get on the same page to be a couple.

* PedoHunt: Håkan is a pedophile who has become a vagrant after being fired from his teaching job after his possession of child pornography was discovered. He's portrayed more sympathetically than one might expect as feels guilt over his urges; part of his attraction to Eli is that he doesn't feel like a child molester around her since she's technically much older than he is.
* PetTheDog: Frequently back and forth between Eli and Oskar. Considering [[ReluctantMonster what she is]], the bond between them is genuinely touching as each grows to care about the other.

* ProtagonistCentredMorality: We're clearly meant to root for Eli and Oskar, despite the fact that [[spoiler:the former murders perfectly innocent people, and the latter is perfectly okay with her doing so because she's nice to him]].

* TrappedInVillainy: Eli. She kills because she has to; she'll die if she doesn't. She makes no excuses for what she does beyond its necessity for her continued existence. Most vampires take their own lives rather than continue to kill, but Eli was turned so young that her survival instinct and willpower overrides her conscience.

* UndeadChild: Subverted. Eli insists she isn't ''technically'' undead.

* BiggerBad: In Eli's origin story [[spoiler:it turns out that a pedophile vampire reigned over Eli's village. He abducted Eli and several other children from their families, before sexually torturing them and possibly turning them]].

* GangOfBullies: Oskar is regularly tormented by one.

* EyeScream: Oskar is faced with this possibility as one of the outcomes of the example of SadisticChoice below.

* NeckSnap: Eli snaps Jocke's neck after attacking him.

* NotSoDifferent: Eli and Oskar have a conversation over this. Eli reminds Oskar the very first thing he/she heard say was Oskar rehearsing potentially murdering his bullies. Oskar defends by saying he actually isn't a murderer but Eli has him admit he would if he could in order to get even. Eli however sees it as he/she has to murder to survive as he/she wants to live. He/she asks him to "be me a little" in a both literal and metaphorical moment where she shows him memories of how this started. In the end both clearly get on the same page to be a couple.

* OurVampiresAreDifferent: These vampires aren't actually undead; it's made clear you have to ''survive'' the attack to turn into a vampire. [[MercyKill Killing your victim]] is the [[ShootTheDog nicer option]]. To be specific, along with the common death-by-sunlight, paleness, blood-drinking attributes, these vampires hibernate, cannot enter a house without getting permission, occasionally have cat-like eyes that glow in the dark, [[ShapeShifter can "think" claws on their hands and feet, and wings and fangs]], transfer memories via kiss, and have a second brain growing on their hearts which serves as a second conscious warning them of what to be afraid of and driving them to drink blood.

* InfantImmortality: Very much averted in [[spoiler: the pool scene, that leaves a 12-year-old ''torn to pieces'']].

* WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue: Lindqvist wrote a short story called "Let the Old Dreams Die" that served as this. [[spoiler:It reveals that Eli turns Oskar into a vampire after getting off the train. The two are spotted together in 2008, still as kids.]] Lindqvist wrote this as a way to confirm that [[spoiler:Eli wasn't 'grooming' Oskar into being her helper.]]

* {{Acrofatic}}: Despite the fact that Oskar is described as chubby several times hes athletic enough to perform a flip off the swings of the jungle gym that impressed Elia.

* Acrofatic : Despite the fact that Oskar is described as chubby several times hes athletic enough to perform a flip off the swings of the jungle gym that impressed Elia.

''Låt den rätte komma in'' (''Let The Right One In'') is a 2004 horror novel by [[UsefulNotes/{{Sweden}} Swedish]] author John Ajvide Lindqvist. It's the story of Oskar, a 12-year-old boy who is being bullied at school. One night, he meets Eli, a girl who just moved in next door with her dad. However, Eli isn't affected by the cold and weirdly isn't sighted in the daytime. Meanwhile said "dad" Håkan is revealed to be out murdering people to drain their blood for some reason. As Oskar befriends Eli, the truth starts to come out. It's a love story mixed into a horror story with plenty of blood to flow from there.

* BattleDiscretionShot: The climax at the pool is not diectly described on page except for a few witness statements repeated about how [[spoiler:Eli slaughters all of the bullies]]. See GoryDiscretionShot.

* SadisticChoice: The climax involves a sadistic contest of Oskar being held underwater; if he can spend 3 minutes below the surface he just gets a cut on his cheek but if he can't spend 3 minutes below the surface, he gets his eye gouged out. Mind you he is also being held down by a bigger teen's hand which could also drown him instead. Also in the end averted with another sadistic ending, Oskar's vampire lover comes to even the score.

''Låt den rätte komma in'' (''Let The Right One In'') is a 2004 horror novel by [[UsefulNotes/{{Sweden}} Swedish]] author John Ajvide Lindqvist. It's the story of Oskar, a 12-year-old boy who is being bullied at school. One night, he meets Eli, a girl who just moved in next door with her dad. However, Eli isn't affected by the cold and weirdly isn't sighted in the daytime. Meanwhile said "dad" Håkan is revealed to be out murdering people to drain their blood for some reason. As Oskar befriends Eli the truth to come out. It's part of a love story mixed into a horror story with plenty of blood to flow from there.

For tropes on the Swedish film see, ''Film/LetTheRightOneIn''. For tropes from the English-language, remake see ''Film/LetMeIn''.